For the Sake of Elibe
by Velyoukai
Summary: You know what? I hate the summary I had here. Basic version is Create a tactician story. With MarkxNils romance! Hah! That's got some interest, good or bad! And guess what else...Mark and another male OC are overpowered. That's not changing. Plot reasons.
1. A Girl From the Plains

Well, even though I haven't even really gotten started on my Outlaw Star fic yet, here's a Fire Emblem attempt as it's a little bit easier for me to work with. There's 2 OC's, one is Mark, the tactician, and the other will come in a little later. Mostly gonna be a chapter equals a mission type of updating, so here's hopin' that works. In-depth pairings will be Mark(OC)/Nils, don't give me that scathing look, OC/Serra, again, just back off, Raven/Lucius, Kent/Lyn, Eliwood/Ninian, Hector/Florina, and maybe some others. Still there but not all that detailed are Matthew/Guy, Dart/Farina, Erk/Priscilla, and, ya know what? Forget it. I'll list others as they come to me.

As a small warning, I'll be taking some really big liberties and will most likely screw with parts in the game. If this offends, not sure why it would, then sorry. But for the most part, if you've played Blazing Sword, then you've got most of it down.

Chapter 1: A Girl From The Plains

Wherever he was, Mark knew it was hopefully much better than where he'd been. After all, being chased by a large number of bandits, while being poisoned, was not one of the best situations he'd been in.

'Well, at least there weren't any mages amongst them,' Mark mentally sighed, 'that would have made the situation much more difficult.'

Mark looked around to check out his surroundings. He appeared to be in some type of hut; most likely some generous Sacaen had taken pity on him and rescued him from dying on the plains. They'd been kind enough to bandage his wounds and let him rest on their bed. He stood up and stretched his muscles, noting that his left leg was still a bit sore.

'Eh, a little better than Bern at least,' Mark noted, 'those zealous bastards would have probably left me there to rot.'

"Oh! You're awake!" a girl's voice proclaimed from behind him, quickly causing Mark to turn around, surprised at the silent entry.

The girl was young, perhaps of fifteen years, and had her dark green hair in a high ponytail to her waist. She was dressed in a light-blue Sacaen robe and held a bowl of water in her hands.

As Mark studied the girl, so did she study him. Her guest had dark brown hair, the tips of which were a darker color that covered his intriguing grey-green eyes. His face was sharp and she admitted to herself that he was, in a way, handsome. His body, as she had noticed while bandaging him, was thin, though it held some muscle in it.

"I found you unconscious on the plains," The girl explained after a moment of mutual silence. "I am Lyn of the Lorca tribe. You're safe now."

Mark nodded, but kept silent, still gauging whether or not she'd be much of a threat. He took notice of her sword kept sheathed near her hip.

'Hm, without my equipment, she might give me some trouble,' Mark mused. 'However, she looks like a nice enough girl, just a bit curious, that's all.'

Lyn looked slightly unnerved by his silence. "Um, who are you? Can you remember your name?"

Mark smirked slightly and replied, "My name is Mark, and I thank you for rescuing me, Lyn of the Lorca."

She smiled at his thanks and giggled a bit. "Your name is Mark? What an odd-sounding name."

Mark shrugged, "Different names from different lands all sound a bit odd to others."

Lyn looked appalled at herself, "Oh! Pay me no mind, it is a good name!"

Mark smirked again, "Relax, I've taken no offense. By the way, have you seen my equipment?"

Lyn pointed over to a small table where his cloak and books laid. He walked over to the table and retrieved his possessions. He put on his cloak and placed the three books in the assorted pockets in the cloak. For some reason, he seemed troubled.

"Lyn," Mark asked, "Were these the only books you found?"

She nodded, "Yes, those three were the only ones still intact. All the others I saw were nothing but ashes."

Mark sighed, 'Damn, there were some really good spells in those books. Oh Fenrir, I'll miss you so.'

"Were those books of great importance to you?" Lyn asked.

Mark shrugged, "Eh, not really. They were just some really good spell books, that's all."

"You're able to do magic? Like make balls of fire and summon lightning?"

Mark was taken aback by her sudden interest. "Yes, Light, Anima and Elder magic. I'm somewhat talented in each of them."

"Ah, magic has always been fascinating to me," Lyn explained, before her eyes took on another curious gleam. "I can tell by your attire that you're a traveler, correct?"

Mark nodded and she continued, "Then what brings you to the plains of Sacae? Are you willing to share your story with me?"

Mark grew nervous, and was about to politely refuse her when a loud clamor interrupted him. 'Good, perhaps now I'll not have to tell her of my pursuers.'

Lyn looked up at the noise, "Hm? What was that noise? Mark, I'll go see what happened, you wait here for me."

Mark watched as Lyn raced out of the hut. For some strange reason, he had an ill feeling about that noise. Moments later Lyn returned, looking nervous and slightly afraid.

"Oh no! Mark, its bandits! They must have come down from the Bern Mountains." She looked about and grabbed a spare vulnerary from a hanging pouch before turning back to him.

"They must be planning to raid the villages! I-I have to stop them." She was about to race out to stop the bandits when an iron grip on her arm stopped her. She turned to look at Mark.

"As payback for rescuing me, I'd like to assist you," Mark said, pulling out his Fire tome. "I'm a tactician as well as a magic user."

Lyn beamed happily at him, "My thanks, Mark. Now let's go!"

She sped outside and into a small grove of trees nearby, Mark close behind her. A single bandit was patrolling about a small distance away.

"Alright Lyn, he's got an axe, so your nimbler sword will be useful here. Now, we could try and deal with him out in the open, but I believe that this small grove will prove useful," Mark muttered softly into Lyn's ear.

"That seems wise, but how will we get him here?" Lyn asked.

"Leave that to me, Lyn," Mark replied, "Leave that to me."

"Bah," the bandit spat distastefully at the ground, "Batta's too nervous. Makin' me go on a patrol to check for resistance." The bandit continued to grumble before a man's voice reached his ears.

"Ah-aahhh! A bandit, noo!"

The bandit turned to see a thin man in a green cloak staring horrified at him. He grinned as he noticed the rather full looking pouch on the man's belt. The bandit snickered as he watched the man flee into a grove of trees before following him, mentally drooling at the money he'd soon have.

He reached the grove and called out in his rough and harsh voice, "A'ight ya little rat! Show yerself and gimme all yer money and maybe I'll let ya live."

So entrenched in his own greed, the bandit never noticed the shadow creeping behind him until it was too late.

"Arrghh!" The bandit roared in pain as the sword pierced his chest.

Luckily for him, and not so fortunate for Lyn, the stab had missed his heart. However, it was still a direct blow, one that definitely hurt and would hamper his ability to attack her.

The bandit growled and lunged for Lyn, axe held high for a vicious downwards blow. Lyn dodged to the left and struck his arm as he flew past. The bandit landed, but before he could attempt another attack, he was temporarily blinded by a bright light surrounding him.

"Now," Mark's voice commanded to Lyn, "Would be a good time to attack."

Lyn complied and quickly smote the bandit with a strong slash through his neck. She wiped her blade clean with a rag then turned to find Mark. She found him leaning against a nearby tree, a white-colored book in his hands.

Curious, she asked him, "Did you do that light thing with your magic?"

Mark nodded, "Yes, it was a simple matter of summoning the basic Light spell, but not including the intent of harm."

Lyn nodded, and the two continued to the final bandit, who stood guard in front of another hut. He was huge, a heavily-muscled blonde man wielding a jagged rough axe. The bandit noticed them nearing him and readied himself for battle.

'Nothing like some good intimidation to start the battle,' the bandit mused, before roaring at Lyn and Mark, "You two runts think you can match the might of Batta the Beast?!"

Neither looked too impressed and the girl leapt at him, sword drawn. He stepped to the side and sent a harsh side blow at Lyn. Lyn ducked and attempted to stab Batta, but he followed his blow's direction and slammed the axe to the ground, trying to crush her. Lyn yelped and leapt to the side, but was caught by Batta's other fist ramming into her stomach. She collapsed to the ground and Batta raised his axe again, fully intending to cleave her in half when something stopped him.

'I-I know this girl!' Batta froze, as memories of before he was a bandit, back when he guarded caravans through Sacae, flooded through him.

Pictures of the past assaulted his mind; That little girl with her nomad father, both happily walking through the marketplace of Bulgar. His own little sister, then still alive, dancing in a field of flowers, crying out his name in joy as she saw him. The little nomad girl, smiling innocently at him when he had found her lost and returned her to her father. His own sister lying bloodied and raped and dead in front of him after he returned to their house after a mission. That little, innocent Sacaen girl, lying helplessly before him. The one who had done him no harm, no wrongs.

Batta's arms sagged, his axe falling from his fingers onto the ground before him. Lyn, seeing a weakness in the bandit before her, lunged forward and stabbed Batta in the heart. She quickly pulled the blade out as he fell back, and returned to Mark.

"I did it!" Lyn cried happily, congratulating herself for eradicating those horrid bandits.

"Yes, you did," Mark agreed, looking strangely somber. "Why not go and check if the owners of that hut are alright?"

Lyn agreed and rushed inside the hut, leaving Mark alone to approach Batta's body.

"You hesitated." Mark stated, gazing somewhat sadly at Batta.

"Aye," Batta wearily agreed, "I knew the girl from before I turned to this life."

"And this prompted you to halt your attack?"

"Aye," Batta coughed up some blood before continuing, "She's just an innocent little girl. So innocent…" Batta trailed off, losing himself in the pain of his wounds, physical and emotional.

"So…noble," Mark mused, "You truly were wasted on this lifestyle, Batta." Mark watched Batta for a few more moments before gathering some Elder magic in his hand. He placed his hand over Batta's face and let the magic sweep over the bandit's body.

"Rest Batta," Mark murmured kindly, "Rest, and know that she's waiting for you. Waiting for her big brother."

As the magic faded, Mark stood up and sighed. Then, he slowly walked into the hut to join Lyn, leaving Batta's body to lie there. And, as the Elder magic slowly deteriorated the dead bandit's body, the sun too was removed by the night sky. And so, Batta the Beast, Batta the guard, and Batta the big brother, died peacefully, smiling to the stars.

The next morning, Mark found himself all ready to leave, only waiting for Lyn to show up for his goodbye. What he did not expect was her rather unusual question.

"What did you say?" Mark asked, though he was sure he knew already.

"I asked you to take me with you on your travels." Lyn replied.

"What about your family? Won't they be saddened by your leaving?" Mark asked, mentally sweating. 'Damn girl! I'm currently being hunted by those who'd easily cut you to shreds. You can't join me!'

Lyn's faced dropped and her eyes moistened with tears. "My family, and the Lorca tribe died a few months ago. There's only a handful of us left, and there is no way they'd follow a little girl like me. Bandits assaulted us in a moment of weakness and…" She faltered, bowing her head as so to hide her tears.

Mark sighed and placed an arm around Lyn. "You may cry freely Lyn. It is not weakness to show sorrow. Cry, and let your anguish free."

Lyn clung to him a few moments, letting all her sadness and pain out, before drying her eyes. "Thank you, Mark. I am…better now. No more tears."

"Mark," she begged, determination and desperation shining in her eyes, "Please take me with you. I want-no I need to become stronger so to avenge my people."

Mark stared at her a few moments before sighing, "Fine, you may join me. However, know that if you travel with me, you may be putting your life in danger."

Lyn, however, was ecstatic despite the warning, "Truly? Oh thank you Mark! Thank you! I promise to work hard to make you proud. You shall be my Master Tactician, and I, your peerless warrior!"

Lyn raced about her hut, gathering the necessary items she'd need for the journey, leaving Mark to ponder to himself.

'Alright then, Fate. Lead me and this girl on, but do be kind. As Batta said, she's just an innocent little girl.'


	2. Footsteps of Fate

Nothing big to add, due to no one sending scathing reviews (or any but my view is that none at all means none bad), so without further nonsense, here's Chapter 2.

Chapter 2: Footsteps of Fate

After gathering the necessary supplies, the two left immediately for Bulgar, the commercial center for Sacae. As Lyn only had one horse, they agreed to set their supplies on it and have the two of them walk to Bulgar. After only a few hours they made it to their destination and now stood before the large stone gates defending the merchant city.

'Stone gates?' Mark questioned himself, 'Do they **expect** the bandits to have magic powerhouses with them?'

He sighed and focused back on Lyn, who was talking to the guard about a stable for her horse. She came back to him a few moments later, smiling happily.

"Mark, apparently there's a stable nearby for Myriad!" She seemed ecstatic, as though the availability of a stable was rare. However, Mark shrugged it off and smiled with her.

"Good, now let's find it, secure your horse and begin our shopping." Mark commanded, before trailing off with a hopeful, "Maybe they'll have some new spell books for me to read."

Lyn grinned at his hopefulness and led the way to the stable. They set Myriad up and left to the main part of Bulgar's merchant area. Mark pondered to himself for some moments before turning back to Lyn.

"Alright Lyn, we need quite the diverse number of things. So, we're splitting the list. You're in charge of healing supplies and foods; I'll deal with weapons, booking us rooms at the inn, and see about getting my own horse. We'll meet back here when we're done, or in three hours. Got it?"

Lyn nodded, and the two split up to gather their assorted supplies.

XXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Tch, not a single new spell book. That's disappointing. Oh well, at least I've managed to get myself a horse and some swords for Lyn.' Mark sighed as he dejectedly abandoned the useless spell shop.

He led his new horse, a sturdy looking and rather calm black mare he'd affectionately named Konigin, around with him as he searched the marketplace for any other things that he thought they'd need for the trip. As he was passing the market's center area again, he stopped as he heard an extremely loud voice echo throughout the market.

"Oh, my heart! What a dazzling vision of loveliness!"

Mark turned slowly and gaped in shocked disgust as he saw a knight with brown hair, wearing green armor and leading an unhappy looking horse, accost some young girl. Some young girl with dark green hair, and quite familiar looking clothes, and the exact number of supplies he'd told Lyn to find.

'Lyn!' Mark gasped, already running to stop the fool from furthering his own death warrant. 'I've already learned from **her** that such overdone flattery will only get one killed! I've got to save the poor sap!'

Mark and Konigin, who'd apparently sensed the urgency of the situation, rushed through the crowd of people to Lyn and the man. By the time he got to them, however, Mark discovered that he'd been too late.

"O beauteous one! Would you not favor me with your name? Or better yet, your company?" The young man begged.

'Dear sweet Flux! He's **trying** to kill himself!' Mark panicked, already seeing Lyn's glare sharpen, and her hand stray to her sword. Mark snuck behind Lyn and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Try and not kill the fool, Lyn." Mark whispered into her ear. "We need to try and not be apprehended for murder for what others would see as a foolish reason."

Lyn fumed but removed her hand from her sword, much to Mark's relief. She turned her glare back to her admirer and began her verbal assault.

"And **where** are you from," Lyn glanced at his green armor and house crest before continuing, "sir knight, that you'd speak so freely with a stranger in such a manner?"

To Mark's surprise, the knight didn't seem at all bothered by Lyn's annoyed tone, probably rejoicing that he hadn't been smacked yet, and answered in an even louder voice.

"Ha! I thought you'd never ask!" He bowed low and placed a kiss on Lyn's hand, to her ire and disgust. "I am from Lycia, to be more specific, I hail from the Caelin canton, home to men of fire and passion!"

Lyn wrenched her hand back quickly and growled out venomously, "Shouldn't that be 'home of callow oafs with loose tongues'?"

Mark had to give the knight some credit, he **was **persistent. "Oooh, you're even lovely when you're cruel!" The knight sighed happily.

Lyn controlled her anger and turned away, storming her way to the nearby inn. "Let's go, Mark. I've nothing more to say to that oaf!" She called back, obviously still angered by the knight.

Mark sighed and led Konigin with him to the inn, but not before remarking to the Caelin knight his personal opinion of what happened. "You **so **lucked out."

As he left for the inn, however, Mark could have sworn he heard someone yell, "Hold your tongue, Sain!"

XXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After tying Konigin to a nearby post, Mark entered the inn to find Lyn sitting at a table with a drink, he hoped it wasn't alcoholic, glaring. Not at any one thing, just glaring. He carefully walked over to her and sat down at the table. She looked up and fixed her glare on him.

"Mark?" Not good. She sounds pissed.

"Yes, Lyn?" Maybe it's not at me.

"When you warned me against killing that oaf, you said my reasons would be foolish." Oh Flux, she's really lookin' pissed now. "Were you mocking my Sacaen upbringing?!"

Mark sighed, "No Lyn, I wasn't. I know full well how insulting it is to be flirted with like that. I only said that **others** would see it as foolish. Others who don't know of Sacaen customs."

To Mark's relief, she looked calmer now. "I'm sorry about that Mark. I had thought you were insulting my Sacaen heritage, when you were just trying to help. Forgive me."

"Relax Lyn," Mark grinned slightly, pausing to order a drink from a barmaid, "No harm taken, so its fine."

"Mark," Lyn asked him, as he was taking a deep drink of his beverage, "How exactly were you familiar with that Sacaen custom."

His eyes widened and he almost choked on his drink, before catching himself and, after setting his drink down, fixing his gaze on the suspicious and curious Lyn.

"I-" Mark started then stopped and collected himself. "Before you found me, I was…" He trailed off, searching for the right words, "in a traveling group, one of which was someone who…hailed from the plains of Sacae. She mentioned such a belief one day and all but I and another mocked her for it."

Mark shuddered as the memory came back to him. "Oh, but she got them back. It was her turn for cooking dinner and she laced all of the bowl but mine, the other's and her own with a laxative. The poor fools were in pain all night. The next day she was particularly rigorous in her archery training. Poor Shashu's fingers were sore and full of splinters."

Lyn seemed satisfied with that and the two finished their drinks and ordered two rooms. After receiving their gold, the inn keeper informed them that their rooms were being cleaned and wouldn't be ready for about an hour. They left the inn immediately to find some way to pass the time, Mark untying Konigin and bringing him along.

Almost directly blocking the way to the outskirts of Bulgar were two knights, one of which the green-clad knight who'd accosted Lyn, and their horses. The other was wearing all red armor, the same color as his hair, and was apparently arguing with the green knight.

"If your manner were more serious, then I wouldn't have to be so severe!" the red knight admonished. "We still have a mission to complete, Sain!"

"I know that!" the green knight, Sain, whined, "But how, Kent, how could I have remained silent in the presence of such beauty? It would have been discourteous!"

Kent, the red knight, looked furious, "What do you know of courtesy!?"

Lyn, while certainly amused by the sight of Sain being yelled at, and, in Mark's own **silent** opinion, appreciative of Kent's face, had finally grown impatient.

"Excuse me!" She managed to yell over them, causing them to cease their argument and turn to her. Lyn composed herself and continued, "You're blocking the road. If you'd be so kind as to move your horses."

While Sain looked about ready to begin spouting more nonsense at Lyn, Kent at least **seemed** apologetic. "Of course, my apologies miss."

As Kent moved the horses, Lyn appeared to calm down some. She turned to Kent, "Thank you. You, at least, seem honorable enough."

Kent, however, looked confused. "Ah, thank you, but…I'm sorry but you seem familiar."

"I beg your pardon," Lyn asked, and Mark could already see the anger returning.

Mark sighed, even though **he **could tell that Kent was serious and not trying to woo Lyn to a nearby bed, he doubted Lyn could. Sain's next little comment thoroughly ruined any chances Kent had of getting any answers.

"Hey! No fair, Kent. I saw her first!" Deep down past that cool calm exterior, Kent was imagining a mini-version of himself throttling another mini-version of Sain.

As expected, Lyn exploded. "Tsk! It seems there are no decent men amongst Lycia's knights! Let's go, Mark. I've run out of patience."

And so, Lyn stormed of through the crowds of people, intent on cooling down by gazing upon her beloved plains of Sacae.

Kent called out to her, "Wait, please! It's not like that!" before turning angrily to Sain. "Sain, you lout!"

Sain, to that little bit of credit he'd earned, looked confused, "Huh, not like that? I thought you were…oops."

Kent was furious, "I'm NOT you!!! Now, come on. We must follow her, I think she's-"

"Excuse me, knights." Both knights looked back to see Mark and his horse watching them expectantly. "I'm Lyn's traveling companion, so how's about you tell me what's going on, and I'll try and help you out."

Kent seemed to think on it, and then finally agreed, tuning out Sain's protests. "Alright, you see we **are** knights of Caelin and we're…"

XXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

To Lyn, there was no sight more beautiful than seeing the plains of Sacae with no interruptions. No neighing horses, no Mark with his random mumblings about 'Fenrir' and 'Luna' or whatever he mumbled, and definitely no perverted Caelin knights.

However, this grand moment was interrupted by Mark, who silently joined her. To her relief, though, he remained silent and merely gazed upon Sacae's plains with her.

"It **is** quite beautiful," Mark finally spoke, referring to the sight before them. "Now Lyn, about those knights…"

Mark was cut off by a loud, actually annoying loud voice. "Heh heh heh, now aren't you the pretty one. You might actually have made a fortune as a slave."

They both turned around to see an ugly grey-haired man, thick and bulky with a defined stubble about his chin. Around his waist was a belt and attached to it, an iron axe. He had apparently stepped out of some woods behind them and was leering at Lyn sickeningly.

Lyn stood up quickly and drew her sword; however, Mark rose lazily and seemed to eye the man with a bit of smug superiority.

The ugly man turned to Lyn again, "Oi, wench. Yer name is Lyndis, is it not?"

Mark heard Lyn gasp and turned back to see her looking shocked, barely even holding on to her sword. She recovered quickly, however, and began her interrogation. "What did you call me?! Who are you?!"

The man sneered at her, "My name is Zugu, and it's such a waste, an absolute waste. For you. Ah well, sorry darlin' but its time to die! Come on out boys!"

Zugu continued to look smug, but after a few moments of nothing happening, he started to worry. "Heh, I-I said COME OUT BOYS!!!"

He turned back to the trees behind them and stared nervously until the noises of movement came out. "Hah!" he gloated, "Now yer in for it…" Zugu trailed off, however, as two knights on their horses emerged instead of his bandit buddies. Staring at their bloodied weapons, he could guess what had happened to his partners.

"As you predicted Mark," Kent reported while wiping his blade clean, Sain doing the same to his lance, "There were three other bandits hiding in those trees, waiting to ambush you."

"Yes! Three dastardly bandits," Sain cried out, happy about being able to brag in front of Lyn. "All of which no match for me, my lady!"

"Thank you Kent," Mark said, still watching Zugu, "and you as well Sain. Now, you two, restrain that man."

Kent and Sain immediately grasped Zugu by his arms and forced him to his knees. Zugu, knowing he had no chance of fulfilling his mission at this point, did not resist.

Mark slowly walked towards them, pausing along the way to pick up a small rock. He knelt down to face Zugu and asked, "Will you tell us why you attempted to attack us?"

Zugu remained silent and Mark sighed. "Fine then. See this rock?"

Mark held out his hand and showed the rock to Zugu. Zugu, not having a single clue as to what Mark was doing, merely nodded.

"Good, now watch carefully." Knowing that Zugu, as well as Lyn and both knights, was watching, Mark began to concentrate. Soon, to their total amazement, though Kent hid his well, the rock began to float. Then, before their very eyes, the rock was aflame. A few seconds later, it was back to just floating.

Mark spoke again, this time; however, his voice had become cold and cruel. "Now Zugu, if you don't tell us all that you know, I will force you to swallow this rock. Then, I will set the rock on fire again, and you will suffer the pain of that fiery rock in your body for many, many years. Now, I'll ask you again, will you tell us why you attacked us?"

"L-L-Lundgren!" Zugu managed to gasp out, fear overwhelming his pride.

"Thank you Zugu, that's all I needed to hear." Mark motioned for Kent and Sain to release the bandit and they did so, although reluctantly. "You're free to go now, Zugu. Come Kent, Sain. You two may explain things to Lyn at the inn."

The four turned back to return to the city, Lyn shooting Zugu a hateful look, leaving the bandit shaking behind them. They were stopped, though, by Zugu's voice roaring from behind them.

"I'll kill her!!!" he roared, frothing madly at the mouth, leaping into the air to try and deliver a downward blow to Lyn's head.

Kent and Sain fumbled for their weapons, while Lyn readied herself for battle. Mark, however, sighed and snapped his fingers. A strong gust of wind thrust itself into Zugu's gut and slammed him back to the ground.

He growled and attempted to get back up, "I'll kill her! I'll kill her!! I'LL KILL H-" Zugu was silenced, and killed, by the tiny rock that Mark had magicked shooting itself through the ugly bandit's skull. It pierced through Zugu's brain, instantly killing him.

Mark's three companions blinked in surprise before turning to him. "Come now, you three. I want to get to the inn before nightfall."

They gathered their wits and followed Mark back into Bulgar and straight to their inn.

XXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at the inn, the four had found a table and ordered drinks, before the knights began their explanation.

Kent started first, "We've come from Caelin under orders from our Marquis to find someone. His daughter, Madelyn, who had eloped some nineteen years ago with a nomad she'd fallen in love with."

Lyn's eyes were wide as the name was mentioned, and she murmured sadly, "Madelyn." Tears began to well up in her eyes but she hurriedly wiped them away.

Sain quickly picked up where Kent had halted, "The Marquis was heartbroken by her leaving. He personally thought that she had feared his reaction to her love and had fled away from him. In his sorrowed state, he officially declared that he had no daughter."

Sain paused to take a swig of his drink and Kent resumed. "This year though, we received a letter from Madelyn herself. It said that she was living happily with her husband and daughter on the Sacaen Plains. The Marquis was ecstatic when he learned he had a granddaughter of eighteen years. He smiled so happily as he announced it to everyone."

"Then he read that his granddaughter had been named Lyndis," Sain grinned, "after the marquis's late wife. He was overjoyed that Madelyn had thought to name her daughter after his wife. He then desired to see his new family and add to them his blessings, so he sent us out to find them. We guessed that it was you from a painting of Lady Madelyn we'd seen before."

Lyn looked sorrowed again, "But the bandits, they almost annihilated the Lorca. My mother and father were among those…" She trailed off, the hurt from seeing her parents and people killed too much to speak of.

"So your plan is to return Lyn to this Marquis," Mark asked, finally speaking up.

Kent nodded, "Yes, though the fact of his daughter and son-in-law being dead will hurt, he will no doubt be overjoyed to see his granddaughter."

Mark remained silent, thinking on something, before speaking up again. "The bandit mentioned your Marquis's brother, Lundgren. Why is he attempting to kill Lyn?"

"Because," Sain spat, obviously disgusted by Lundgren "You're now in line for ruling Caelin and he hates the idea. If not for you, he'd rule Caelin."

"But I have no desire to rule Caelin or inherit any titles!" Lyn cried out softly, so to not alert the rest of the inn.

Kent shook his head, "I'm afraid, Lady Lyndis, that he won't care to believe that. For as long as you live, Lundgren will continue to hunt you down."

"Mark, what do you think I should do?" Lyn turned to the silent Mark.

"Obviously, this Lundgren is not going to let us be." Mark muttered into his glass. "So, we take this to him and eliminate that which would dare to begin the hunts for your life in the first place."

"Kill him?!" Lyn stared hard at Mark, trying to determine if he'd really said that. "I can't, he's blood!"

Mark's gaze turned stony, "Lyn, while he may be blood, he is still blood that wishes you dead only to further his own gains. He obviously wouldn't think twice about killing you, so you should do the same."

Lyn still looked unsure, but agreed nevertheless, "You're right Mark. I will end up fighting my Granduncle, and at that point, I may have to kill him."

Mark sighed at her wording but nodded. He then turned to Kent and Sain, "As for you two, do you have rooms here?"

Kent nodded, "Of course, I had Sain here book them earlier."

All three of them noticed Sain stiffen at that and Kent felt a deep uneasiness build up inside him. "Sain, you **did** acquire us rooms, correct?"

Sain laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head, "Oh Kent, my boon companion, I really was planning to, but then this wondrous beauty of a woman appeared and I-"

"Sain you lout!!!" Kent yelled, "By this time all the rooms would be sold out! Now where will we sleep?" Forget throttling, Kent's mini-self had hired a harem of female shamans to blast mini-Sain with elder magic and resist all his flirting, before _very_ friendly warriors finished him off. All with mini-Kent laughing victoriously, and a bit evilly, in the background.

"Ahem," Kent and Sain turned to an amused Mark and Lyn. "You're welcome to split rooms with us; when we ordered ours we didn't know they came with two beds."

Sain looked ecstatic, "Oh, Oh! Lady Lyndis, know now that your sleeping partner will be-"

"Kent," Mark finished dryly, surprising all the others.

Kent looked at Mark oddly, "I imagined that you'd be her arranged partner."

Lyn looked curious and, though only Mark saw it, happy.

"I'm going to be personally keeping an eye on Sain. He's too used to you, might be able to slip by you in the night. I, however, am quite new to Sain and sleep little and lightly."

Sain sighed, disappointed, and the four finished their business. After ordering and eating a meal, they each left for their respective rooms. It was only as Mark was just settling in his bed that he realized something that shocked him deeply.

'Lyn is 18?!'

DONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONE

Well, there's Chapter two. Chapter 3 whenever.


	3. Sword of Spirits

Yo, Chapter 3 is up.

And I have my response to my first reviewer, Timcampy-chan, so after that it's the story. Also,!!!WARNING TIME!!! First plot screwing is in this chapter. If this makes no sense to you, go to Ch 1 and reread, or actually read, the author's note. Also, for some reason, this chapter feels kinda weak compared to my other ones. So watch out and don't be too disappointed.

Timcampy-chan: I'll make sure to watch Mark's level of power but I don't see how he's overpowered. So he's got the ability to wield all three types of magic, he's not some super-tactician god that completely negates the point of having an army in the first place. Though I've read one fanfic like that that's pretty well-written. The light thing he did in Ch 1 was simple, even easier than casting the actual spell, in my theory. No force behind it, just the special effects. The Elder magic done to Batta didn't even do damage, just sent Batta's body back to Gaia. The floating rock, eh, I'll grant that's a bit…unusual, but with the ability to merely guide wind or something to focus under the rock it'd probably work for Erk or Pent or some other mage. And the rock on fire is basic Fire spell, just smaller and focusing on only **surrounding** the rock instead of making a **ball of fire out of nowhere**. Either way, thank you for the advice, please enjoy this fanfic. (Damn this was long!)

"BLAH," Speech

'Blah' Thoughts

Chapter 3: Sword of Spirits

In Mark's opinion, things could have been worse. Granted, being under what could be constant attack from the overzealous and definitely paranoid granduncle of some nomadic girl that had saved him from dying was much worse than some things he'd dealt with, not to mention that he had to deal with a still flirting Sain of all people. On the bright side, Kent was respectable enough, and they were making excellent progress for just leaving Bulgar, just passing some nice little temple to their side.

"Oh! Mark, hold on a moment. I'd like to make a small detour to that temple," Lyn called out from behind him, riding Myriad alongside Kent and his steed.

"Why?" Mark asked, not really wanting to stop for what he knew had to be a Sacaen custom.

"There is a sacred sword enshrined in the temple's altar. It's a Sacaen custom to pray for good luck on a journey there."

'Damn time-consuming customs! And damned fear of opposing Sacaen women!' Mark cursed, before calling back, "Fine, but we can only afford a small amount of time, right Kent?"

Kent shook his head, "No, actually we've been making excellent timing, what with you two having horses. We can spend enough time for Lady Lyndis to pray in leisure."

Lyn smiled happily while Mark sighed, 'And Kent is lost to me already. So quickly he's adapted to making sure Lyn has her way.'

Sain, for his part, kept quiet and studied the way Kent and Lyn acted around each other. 'Why, Kent would never let my detours interrupt our progress! Why would he-No, it couldn't be! Stuffy old Kent? Never!'

His thoughts pretty much revolved around that during the entire trip. He didn't even notice his horse change its course to follow the others to the temple, sensing his master's obliviousness. Hm, poor Sain's horse.

As they reached the temple, they were stopped by a frantic woman racing away. Upon seeing them, she ran over and addressed Lyn, "Oh! Oh, excuse me, milady. Be you headin' to the temple?"

"Yes, yes we are," Lyn nodded, confused by the woman's panic.

The woman looked ecstatic, "Oh thank Saint Elimine! You have to help the priest there. This band of local ruffians has invaded the temple! I think they're planning to steal the sword!"

Lyn was appalled, "They plan to **steal** the Mani Katti!? Such sacrilege! They must be stopped!"

She turned to Mark and the two knights. "We must hurry, before they harm anyone or steal the sword."

The knights nodded, and the three readied to take off when Mark interrupted them. "Hold up! We are not charging an enemy before getting info. Kent, there's some houses down South of here, go check their inhabitants for useful info."

Kent nodded and raced off, returning a short time later with the necessary information. "A woman told me that one of the side walls of the temple was very old. We could probably break it open with our weapons."

"Alright, let's deal with anyone that gets in our way and get to that wall." Mark ordered.

Upon reaching the temple walls, they were met with good news and bad news. Good new was that it was obvious which wall was breakable. The thing looked like it would fall any second! Bad news, four of the ruffians blocked their way.

Mark sighed as the brutes immediately charged them, axes raised high in the air. Kent and Sain rode out to meet them, swords drawn, while Lyn stayed back to defend Mark in case the bandits got too close. Two of them did indeed come close and she engaged the first, leaving Mark with the remaining one.

"I don't suppose you'll just give up, huh?" Mark asked, drawing out his red book.

The ruffian's reply was to rush forward at Mark, fully intent on killing the frail man before him, helping his friends finish off those knights, and then enjoying the girl before they all returned to their leader, Glass.

Glass had a thing about raping girls, the last time he'd caught one of them trying to do that, he'd gone in a rage, slicing the fool to shreds then personally returning the girl home.

Mark sighed and mumbled something, then snapped his fingers. The brute laughed and continued on, before noticing that it seemed hotter than usual. This was his last coherent thought before the fireball enveloped him, burning his body to ashes.

Mark sighed again and turned back to the others; Kent and Sain had slain theirs already, and Lyn had just finished off her opponent. He whistled and they grouped back together again, standing now before the pathetic excuse for a wall.

"Wall?" Mark scoffed, "More like pathetic sheet of pebbles hanging over a hole in the temple! Sain, just **poke** it with your lance, that should be all it needs."

Sain complied, and they all watched in shock as the 'wall' crumbled silently to the floor.

"Alright, Kent and Sain, you two head to the entrance and look for any remaining foes, Lyn and I will deal with their leader."

The knights dashed off to the entrance and Lyn and Mark headed for the altar. When they got there, Mark and Lyn were met with an old man lying on the floor, the fabled Mani Katti in its scabbard on a pedestal, and a shocked man, probably in his early 20's.

"Who are you!?" the man cried out angrily, "And where are the others? They should have dealt with any intruders!"

"They're dead," Lyn spat, glaring hatefully at the man, "As will you, you blasphemous wretch!" She leapt at the man, sword drawn, only to be stopped by the man's own sword. With a grunt, the man swung hard, forcing Lyn back away from him.

"Dead, Me?! Hah! I'm Glass, my swordsmanship is peerless! The gods themselves fear my name! And I will have that sword!" The man, Glass, roared as he charged Lyn, swinging downward in an attempt to slash through her head. Lyn raised her sword to block, and then the unthinkable happened.

Lyn's sword shattered from the impact and she leapt back to the altar, a small cut on her cheek from one of the shattered pieces of her sword. She reached her hand back and, finding a handle, drew her next weapon. She charged at Glass, barely noticing his shocked look, and swung hard.

Glass barely managed to get his sword up in time, he somehow blocked Lyn's blow, but the force of impact thrust the sword out of his hands. Falling backwards, Glass found himself face-to-face with the point of the Mani Katti to his neck, and Lyn's icy glare to his eyes.

Lyn was about to finish Glass off when a hand clasped her shoulder. "Ah, nice job Lyn, but that's enough. You're not killing this one. Oh, congrats on the sword, by the way."

Lyn whirled around to glare at Mark, "And why shouldn't I kill him? He attempted to **steal** the Mani Katti!"

Mark sighed, "I know Lyn, I know. Look, just go help the old man out, I'll deal with Glass here."

Lyn huffed, but did as she was told, marching off to assist the fallen priest, muttering about 'blasted heathens' and 'stupid Mark'.

Mark chuckled at her, and then turned to Glass, "She's right you know, you did try and steal that sword."

Glass gaped for a few moments before finding his speech, "I-I-I'm not dead? You'll not be killing me? Why?"

"First tell me why you were so adamant about getting the Mani Katti," Mark said, sitting down beside Glass.

Glass looked away, as though embarrassed or ashamed before turning back to Mark, "I owe you my life anyway, so I might as well tell ya. Ya see, I figured, if I had a sword like the Mani Katti, no bandits would dare attack any of the people here. Even if they did, then I'd have that sword to fight them off."

Mark blinked in surprise, "That's…quite noble of you."

Glass nodded, "Thanks, milord. Now, where are we headed?"

"Milord?" Mark asked, then after thinking a bit, not to mention dispelling that sudden sense of foreboding dread, "We?"

Glass nodded again, "Aye, milord. You spared my life so now I'm indebted to ya. You're my lord and master now, and I'll follow you to Hell and back milord!"

"Now, now, there's no need for that." Mark replied nervously, "So I spared your life, you don't really owe me anything."

Glass shook his head, all seriousness now, "Milord, my honor as a man demands that I serve you till I feel that I've paid your mercy back two fold. From now on, command and I shall obey."

Mark sighed, seeing no way out without crushing Glass's honor, and agreed. "Fine, you can come along. Just don't expect Lyn to be all that happy with you."

"Eh, don't worry milord, I'll stay clear of her till she doesn't feel like killing me anymore."

Mark rose from the ground and walked over to Lyn, Glass right behind him. When he got there, the priest was telling Lyn something about how the sword had chosen her and spirits finding her worthy and whatnot.

'Drunken old man,' Mark sighed, only to find Lyn, to his shock, looking as though she believe everything the old man was saying.

When the priest had finished his long-winded explanation, Lyn turned back to Mark, dazed. "This is the Mani Katti, the most famous blade in all of Sacae, and it's chosen me as its wielder!"

"Yes, good job Lyn. Now let's get back to Kent and Sain so we can continue. Oh, and Glass will be joining us, thanks."

Lyn nodded, "Yes let's go and-Wait! What did you just say!?" She pointed accusingly towards Mark, and Glass behind him.

"I said that Glass will be joining us. We need another fighter anyway and now you'll have a non-mounted sword user to train with."

"NO! No, I refuse to allow this! He can not come with us, I won't let him. I-"

Glass stepped forward, interrupting her, "Miss I know you aren't happy with the idea of letting me come with ya, but I must."

Lyn opened her mouth to argue some more when, to her surprise, Glass got on his knees and bowed before her. "I apologize for tryin' to steal the Mani Katti. I have to come with you, I have to. Please, just give me a chance."

Feeling her resolve to hate the man bowing in front of her weakening, Lyn stormed off to the entrance, yelling back to them, "ONE chance is all you get! ONE!"

Mark chuckled again and helped Glass up. "Well, congratulations Glass. Looks like you're coming with us. You have any supplies or anything you need to get before we leave?"

Glass shook his head, "Nope, got everything I'll need with me. I'll probably need a new sword after that, though."

"Don't worry, I bought plenty of swords before we left Bulgar, so you're good there." Mark said as he and Glass, after retrieving his old sword, walked out of the temple, ignoring the old priest completely.

They were met at the entrance by Lyn, who had made it her solemn duty to ignore Glass for the time being, Kent, who cast a questioning glance at Glass, then Mark, and Sain, who was slowly building Lyn's anger by attempting to flirt with her.

"Alright, Kent, Sain, this is Glass. He is the newest member to our little group so don't kill him. Same to you Glass, no killing party members. Now, let's get a move on and continue our journey. It's a long way till Caelin, so we need to make good speed. Glass, you'll ride with…"

Mark looked around the group; Lyn was glaring venom at Glass, Kent was standing near Lyn to protect her from Sain, and Sain was trying to get past Kent to Lyn.

"…Sain."

Glass nodded but Sain immediately voiced his complaints, "Oh, but Sir Mark! Only beautiful women may join me upon my steed. Surely you meant someone else?"

"No, Sain, I meant you. Glass, keep him from trying to flirt with Lyn too much, got it?"

"Of course, milord. I'll break a limb if he tries anything." Glass announced, causing Lyn to like him a small bit more, and Sain's face to pale.

"Alright everyone," Mark commanded, "We're due to head west, for Caelin."

XXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What?!" Lundgren of Caelin roared at the messenger in front of him. "Madelyn's daughter is still alive?!"

"Um, yes, Lord Lundgren," the messenger replied, unnerved by the lord's anger, "She is traveling with Kent and Sain. What are your orders, sir?"

"Bah," Lundgren scoffed, "I've heard tell that Northern Bern is infested with bandits. She's just a mere girl; she'll not survive the trip."

Lundgren frowned, taking up a thoughtful position, "I'm more concerned over my older brother. His life must be ended quickly."

He turned to glare at the messenger, "The poison…There must be no blunders."

"Yes milord, he suspects nothing and continues to drink it." The soldier answered. "The marquis's death, no doubt due to 'sudden illness', is not far off."

"Heh, heh, heh," Lundgren cackled madly, "Soon…Soon Caelin will be all mine!"

Lundgren began to laugh insanely as the prospect of ruling Caelin dangled ever closer to his grasp. The old man's laugh rang throughout the halls, causing nervous chills to form in the spines of those who heard.

"Caelin **will** be mine, no matter what. I shall not let some, savage beast girl from those backwater plains take this from me. No, should the girl even try to take this from me, I'll kill her myself!"

_Alright, there's chapter 3. 4's whenever._


	4. Band of Mercenaries

Alright then, nothing too new, so here's chapter four. And to all those who're reading my story here, keep on reading and enjoy.

Timcampy-chan: Thank you for approving my Glass idea. I've always regretted not being able to use him, as well as a few choice others.

Chapter 4: Band of Mercenaries

After leaving the temple with a new sword for Lyn and a new honor-bound minion for Mark, the group traveled South-West. Lyn told them that she was planning on stopping at a nearby village in that direction for supplies. As they got closer, however, they began to notice smoke rising from the village. Lyn ordered them to hurry and they raced to the village.

Upon entering, Kent and Sain looked appalled by the destroyed homes and despairing atmosphere, while Lyn and Glass merely seemed saddened by it. Mark was deep in thought, though he too felt negatively about the site.

Sain turned to Lyn helplessly and asked her, "The entire area is in ruins! Why does no marquis do anything to help the people?"

"This village is located near the horrid Taliver Mountain, home to the Taliver Bandits who have destroyed countless lives and villages. They are the ones who destroyed my village and people, the Lorca." Lyn answered, before continuing, "And no marquis holds power here, none or few hold such power in Sacae. Mostly it's only us tribal people who protect villages when able to."

Lyn gazed over the desolate ruins before cursing to herself, "They're soulless beasts! I'll never forgive them!"

"The cruelty that mankind shows upon itself," Mark spoke up for the first time in a while, "is completely dwarfed by that shown upon others."

"What?" Lyn asked him, the others noticeably curious as well.

"Nothing. Just remember Lyn of the Lorca tribe," Mark advised, "You have never seen the worst thing in the world. There will always be something, anything that is worse."

That said, Mark walked off to search the other villages, waving for Glass to follow him. The two left, leaving Lyn with her two knights.

"I am not running away," Lyn announced, "I am not. I'll be back…someday. And I'll be stronger. Much stronger. So strong that I shall break their swords beneath me like twigs under a stallion's hoof. I will avenge my people."

Kent and Sain looked to each other and nodded, then Kent spoke up, "When that time comes, Milady Lyndis, bring Sain and myself with you. We too will help to restore peace and order to Sacae."

Ignoring the tears building in her eyes, Lyn nodded gratefully, "Thank you, both of you. Together, we **will** rid my homeland of the Taliver and we **will** restore Sacae's peace."

After Lyn dried her tears, the three moved on to the third nearby village. Halfway there, however, they were halted by a girl's screaming. They rushed over to the village and found the source. A small lilac-haired girl and her Pegasus were being accosted by two men who seemed to be bandits.

Lyn looked at the girl for a few moments before realizing who it was. Once she did, she raced over to her, sword drawn to deal with the two men in case things turned out violent. Kent and Sain quickly followed her, the green knight already preparing his speech.

"I say she'll get us a good price, so will her flying horse," said one of the men.

"Yeah, Migar, I'll bet you're right." Replied the other.

"Florina?" Lyn asked as she came closer, "Florina, is that you?"

The girl, Florina, looked both ecstatic and relieved, "Ah! Lyn?"

"Florina, what are you doing in a place such as this?" Lyn questioned her.

Florina slowly stepped forward, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "Lyn…I…I."

Lyn brought Florina into a gentle hug, "Come now, no crying."

"I'm sorry," Florina apologized, easing out of the hug.

"You two are acquaintances?" Kent asked curiously, coming up from behind them while Sain kept an eye on the two bandits.

Lyn nodded, "Yes, this is my friend Florina. She is a Pegasus knight from Ilia. Just so you know, Kent, she's a little uncomfortable around men."

Kent nodded and bowed to Florina, "Hello Dame Florina, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Florina blushed and stuttered back, "A-And hello t-to you to, S-Sir Kent."

"Now Florina," Lyn ordered her tone serious, "Tell me what exactly happened here."

Florina began stuttering her answer, "W-Well…um…When I had heard that you had left…I…decided to follow you. Then I saw this village and I flew down to see if any of the villagers had any news of you. I didn't see those two men over there and…I…um."

"Did your Pegasus land on them?" Lyn asked kindly.

"Well…I…a little." Florina admitted guiltily.

"AHA!" one of the bandits shouted victoriously. He walked up and pointed at Florina. "She admits her fault!"

Florina gasped and hid behind Lyn as the bandit continued, "She landed on Migar and now she'll pay!"

Florina began to whimper, panicked, while Lyn, who still retained her calm outward appearance, turned to her Pegasus riding friend.

"Florina, did you apologize to them?" Lyn asked her.

"Yes!" Florina replied, "I've told them that I am sorry over and over. They just wouldn't listen…"

After calming her friend, Lyn turned to the bandit, "Listen, she's obviously sorry. Can we not just pass? After all, it's not like either of you are injured."

"No chance!" the other bandit, Migar, yelled. "She's coming with us, by force if necessary! Come on out boys!"

A few moments passed with no results and Migar and his companion began to look worried.

"Sorry, trash," Mark said, walking out of the nearby village with Glass and a brown-haired male with arrows and a bow at his side. "But Glass and I, with the help of Wil here, already disposed of your friends. You're on your own now."

Mark and his group walked over to the others. Glass held his position behind Mark while Wil greeted Lyn happily.

"Howdy! My name's Wil and I'm a traveler of sorts. Since me and those two over there already dealt with most of the bandits, I'll be needing another job. Mark said that you might have a need for my archery skills."

Lyn nodded, "Yes, we'd benefit well from your help. It's good to have you with us. Now if you'd-"

"Grr! Stop ignoring us!" Migar yelled, rushing at Lyn with his axe raised. "We'll take that girl and her horse and you'll not stop us!"

Lyn's hand raced to the hilt of the Mani Katti, as did the knights and Wil to their own weapons, but it was not necessary. Glass leapt in front of Lyn and blocked the axe with his sword. He pushed up and, with the bandit caught off guard, drove his foot between the bandit's legs. Migar gasped and dropped his axe, just as Glass slashed downward through Migar's chest diagonally.

Migar fell to the ground, muttering, "Ugh, you'll regret this…My Ganelon brothers will not let this stand."

"Migar!" the remaining bandit yelped, before turning tail and running away.

"Wil," Mark ordered, "Aim to kill, don't let him get away."

"Gotcha Mark," Wil replied, already notching an arrow and letting it fly. It soared through the air and planted itself in the head of the retreating bandit. The bandit's body fell, never to rise again.

"Good job Wil," Mark congratulated before turning to Lyn, "So, you gonna introduce me to the new member of our team? Fair's fair."

"Oh!" Lyn looked surprised at that, then she nodded, "Yes, this is my friend Florina, she is a Pegasus knight. Florina, this is my tactician, Mark."

Mark nodded his head to her, "A pleasure to meet you, Florina."

"Y-You too," Florina stuttered back.

At Mark's questioning glance, Lyn explained, "Florina is a tad nervous around men."

"Ah," Mark mused, "Then we'll have to make sure Sain tries nothing. Perhaps the threat of tending to the horses…"

As Mark trailed off, Lyn turned back to Florina to glean her reason for being there when Glass interrupted her.

"Are you alright, Lady Lyndis?" Glass asked, sword back in its sheath across his back.

"W-What did you call me?" Lyn asked, confused.

"Mark told me about the whole inheritance dispute and since you're kinda like royalty, I felt I should address you as such."

"Please, Glass, just address me as Lyn. I don't want to go by Lady Lyndis for a long time. Just refer to me as Lyn."

Glass nodded, "Alright then, Lyn, are you unharmed?"

"Yes, you did quite well in disposing that bandit, thank you." Lyn replied.

Glass nodded again and returned to stand by Mark, who was warning Sain about flirting with Florina and talking to Kent.

"Lyn, w-who was that?" Florina asked.

"Oh, that was Glass, Mark's bodyguard or servant, I'm not really sure." Lyn answered, "Mark stopped me from killing him when he tried to steal the Mani Katti and he's sworn to serve Mark ever since. He isn't too bad, though, if I ignore his trying to steal the Mani Katti. He shows me respect as a woman and a warrior."

Florina nodded and the two returned to the side of the others.

"Alright, Lyn," Mark ordered, "You and the others rest awhile in the village and get supplies if they have any. I'll stay out here and keep an eye out for more bandits."

As the group entered the village Mark watched them awhile before turning to the dying but still alive Migar.

"You know," Mark mused quietly to Migar, "There's something about you that really irks me."

"Ugh," Migar grunted, still in pain from the slash on his chest, "Really, why?"

"I don't know, but…I've surmised that even if you did live through this, you wouldn't change, would you?"

"Heh, of course not! All the gold to plunder, the people to terrify, and of course, all the women to rape! Why would I trade that?!"

"I see," Mark seemed to think deeply on something before turning a strange smile on Migar. The smile frightened Migar because it seemed so pleasant, yet felt so cruel to him.

"So, Migar, you like to invoke terror in the hearts of others, hm?" Mark asked him while his left hand began to glow darkly. Soon, a glowing ball of darkness formed in Mark's hand.

"Well, trash? Didn't you say you like to make people feel fear? Then here, as a gift from me to you, I present you with a one-way trip to hell, fear-style."

"W-Wait! Please!" Migar pleaded hysterically.

"Why? The magical power I'd need to finish you off is laughably small. After all, one doesn't need much to finish off a half-dead piece of shit corpse like you."

"Please, I'll tell you anything, anything! Just let me live!" Migar wailed.

"Ah, fine then, tell me Migar, you said that your Ganelon brothers wouldn't stand for your death. How is it that they'll know?"

"I-It's a Ganelon method of defense. We always leave an archer to watch what happens and report it. Right now our's is probably on his way to report our loss."

"Good, thank you, Migar," Mark muttered as he began planning.

"Wh-Why did you want to know?" Migar asked, a feeling of dread enveloping his being.

"Why? Because, I'll need all the info on you Ganelons I can get," Mark answered, his grin even crueler, "for when I annihilate all of the Ganelon Bandits."

Migar gaped in horrified disgust at him, before Mark continued, "Now, Migar…"

"…If you remember anything in your next life, remember this," Mark intoned darkly, the cruel smile never leaving his face, "Man is cruel, and life is even crueler. And in the end, all wrongs shall be righted, either by Man, or by Gods."

The orb of energy seemed to pulse with excitement as Mark brought his hand to rest in front of Migar's face. Migar began to weep openly in fear as Mark's cruel smile wreaked havoc on his mind.

"Bye-Bye, Migar." Mark whispered gently as he let the orb fly.

Migar opened his mouth to scream, but was halted as the orb enveloped his head. To his horror, scenes of unspeakable terror and pain raced through his mind, forcing him to live the entire lives of those whose death included fear in a matter of seconds.

Mark's cruel smile shifted to that of his usual docile lazy one and he walked back to the village to retrieve the others. Behind him, the orb of Elder magick faded away, leaving Migar's skinless, lifeless skeleton.

SCENE CHANGE 

In the village, everyone had rested awhile and gotten to know the new members better. Sain had obeyed Mark's orders and had greeted Florina politely, and Kent and Lyn had the misfortune to listen to Wil as he chatted on about something they'd lost interest in long ago.

Lyn was trying to look like she was listening to Wil while not getting caught gazing upon Kent's face. Kent was deep in thought, probably on his very new feelings for his Lady. Wil was talking amiably about 'being in Lyndis' Legion', not even noticing their disinterest. Florina was next to Lyn, wondering what Lyn was watching Kent's face for, and Sain was out flirting with the remaining village girls, extra effort to make up for the loss of Florina.

"Alright everyone! Pack up and get ready, we're heading out!" Mark ordered and everyone hurried to get prepared. As they gathered at the front gates off the village and left, Mark shook away the memories of his dream from the past night. They continued their journey, traveling further West to Caelin.


	5. In Occupation's Shadow

Just to say, I was truly inspired to write this by Servant of God's Hammer of Terrascars, an awesome fiction on this site. All should read it. However, I do not have the knowledge of things such as candle marks and reed flutes and destriers or the eloquence and word-y grace that he (I think SoG is a he) has. So mine is going to be less…epic-y and awesome than his.

Side note, mine is a trilogy of three different stories/games in the end.

Also, I make up words in Author's Notes because the English language, and possibly all other languages, doesn't have the words to show/say/mean what I'm thinking.

Thirdly, since few people have reviewed this (NO Flames as of yet, baby!) I am going to take it as those who are reading this, have little to no problems yet. This is good for me, as I personally hate anything and everything I type. So thank ya'll.

Also, again, Florina's Pegasus apparently has the Japanese name of Hikari, a female, and at first I was wary of which English name to use. However, due to the HectorxFlorina pairing, and their support conversations, I think I'll use Huey.

Like the fourth or fifth note: This chapter may constitute needing an increase in the rating for one thing, or two. So, watch out.

Meh, either way, here's Chapter...5, I think.

Disclaimer: Because it's taken me this long to remember this, it's a one-time for everything on this story. I…DON'T…OWN…FIRE…EMBLEM…7…except the actual game cartridge, and ROM.

Chapter 5: In Occupation's Shadow

(Could anyone please tell me why this would be a chapter's title?)

As the evening dusk began to dominate the sky above them, Lyn and her entourage came upon a desolate broken-down fortress in the middle of an otherwise unpopulated forestry.

It was an all-together shabby structure, having suffered tremendous damage in the past which had reduced it to consisting of a small center area, possibly once a storehouse or a weapons closet, with a slightly larger court surrounding it. The walls bordering the court were equally shoddy, showing much disrepair, and two openings furthered the site, one large enough for perhaps a person to fit through and the other able to let two enter. The second one, Mark noticed, had a large rusty gate that still seemed operational attached to it.

"Ah," Wil breathed the clean forest air in deeply, "This should suffice for tonight's shelter."

His companion and partner in finding suitable refuge for the night, Sain, stared at him as though the archer was insane. "Wil! Surely you jest! This…this…mildew-infested decrepit old fortress?! Surely we can manage better than this?"

Wil turned somewhat sadly to Sain, "Constant bandit attacks keep everything in turmoil around here. No one can afford time to worry about travelers over themselves. And there **are** a lot of us."

"This will be fine," Lyn reassured from behind them, briefly shocking them with her silent approach. "Who would want to be stuck inside some confining room anyway? I'd much rather prefer to feel the wind blow."

"And I'm fine so long as I'm at Lyn's side," added Florina, bringing up the rear with her Pegasus and Mark, who seemed lost in thought.

"Hey, Mark, where are Sir Kent and Glass?" Wil called out to the silent tactician.

Mark turned to Wil, "Ah, I sent the two out on a little exploration mission, to see if we're in any notable danger. They should be back soon."

Grinning mischievously, Sain turned to Lyn and Florina, "Well my dear ladies, as those two aren't here to assist me, I suppose that I, Sain the Green Lance of Caelin, shall remain close to your sides throughout the night. For your protection of course."

"Actually Sain, both you and I are to remain awake and ever watchful for any attacks during the night."

Sain yelped as a rock pelted him on the back of the head and turned around. There stood Kent, frowning as usual at him, by his horse and Glass, who was holding some small rocks in his hand and grinning at him.

Kent led his horse to the fortress, grabbing both Sain by the collar of his shirt and Sain's horse as he went. "And we will alternate the watch with Glass to ensure that **somebody** doesn't fall asleep again."

Sain sighed forlornly as he was dragged, waving sorrowfully at Lyn and Florina, "Alas! Farewell my maidens!"

As Lyn and Wil laughed a bit at Sain's expense, Mark turned to Glass, "So, what's to report?"

Dropping the rocks and his smirk, Glass replied, "Well, Kent handled the Western area with his horse to reach more ground faster, and I took the East. Kent said he saw nothing, no bandits, maybe a little wildlife, but nothing too dangerous. The same with me, nothing. We both decided to return before it got too dark so neither of us could check the South."

Watching the others enter the fortress, Mark nodded, "Good job. I guess we'll just put a guard down South. Since we know there's no one coming from the East, we won't need to put a guard up there."

Glass nodded as well, "Yeah, since there's no enemies coming in from the East, a guard there's just a waste of time."

Both began to walk towards the fortress when they heard the rustling of leaves. Neither stopped their trek towards the forest, though Mark and Glass shared a victorious smirk. They continued on, letting the disturbance carry on with its gleeful retreat.

XXXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Carjiga! Carjiga!" The scout yelled excitedly as he ran back to the main camp. This scout had been the one to report Migar's death and he had been brought to confirm their prey.

He quickly ran through the camp to the center tent where Carjiga was settled. Parting the tent's entrance, he quickly conveyed his information. "It's them Carjiga, I personally saw the rogue who cut Migar down with my own eyes!"

To his shock, the scout was brought to the ground by a stout fist planting itself upon his head. The owner of said fist, a large, scarred and ugly bandit by the name of Carjiga, growled angrily at him, "Idiot! Are you trying to tell them our location?! Keep your voice down and report!"

Hastily apologizing and rising to his feet, the scout complied, "Yessir! It's them Carjiga, I'm sure of it. Two females, one a sword user and the other a Pegasus knight, and five males, two cavaliers, an archer, a sword user and I don't know what the other one can do. The male sword user killed Migar and the archer shot his partner."

"Good, good," Carjiga nodded, plotting the best way to deal with their foes. 'Maybe I can finally give that blasted Dorcas some use.'

"Uh, Carjiga?" the scout interrupted, still having information to give.

"What?" Carjiga growled, ready to kill him for interrupting his planning.

"I-I-I also know th-their guard plans, sir!" The scout yelped.

Carjiga's eyes widened and the scout swore he could see the victory shining in them. "Really? Good, then tell me what they're gonna do."

"Their leader, the guy I got nothing on, told the male sword user that they're only gonna put a guard on the South gate. They just not gonna bother with the East or West."

"Hm," Carjiga mused, again thinking on how to deal with their opponents. "Alright, you! Go get Dorcas and three others."

The scout complied and returned moments later with three bandits and a large red-haired man named Dorcas. The three bandits and the scout remained respectful and fearful of Carjiga, though Dorcas watched him silently.

"You, Dorcas!" Carjiga pointed towards the large man with his axe, "You've not proven your skills yet since joining the Ganelons, so you and these three are to enter the fortress from the East entrance and start the attack from there. There are two women in there, don't kill them or I'll kill you. Those women might make some good money as slaves."

The three nodded and left, Dorcas slowly walking behind them. Sighing low enough that no one else heard it, Dorcas had but one thought, 'At least Natalie cannot see me sinking this low.'

XXXXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Mark and Glass entered the fortress, they were met with the sight of Kent and Sain guarding the Southern gate, Wil relaxing in a heightened area of the fortress that gave him an impressive view around them, and Lyn and Florina conversing with an average looking brown-haired woman with an apparently favored leg.

As they walked within earshot of Lyn and her guest, they caught the end of her sentence, "- a large man with short red hair and he's quite silent most of the time. Oh!"

Turning around, Lyn greeted the two and explained the situation. "Ah, Mark, Glass, this is Natalie. She is looking for her husband, Dorcas."

They nodded, and Mark called out to the others, "All of you, gather over here!"

After everyone arrived, Mark began his orders, "Alright, Wil, you stay up at that taller spot you were at, if we're attacked, I want you to pick off those you can. Kent, Sain, you two will cover the Southern gate, and Lyn, you and Florina will guard the Western wall. I noticed that part of it is in a great deal of disrepair and the enemy might use that to their advantage. As for you and me, Glass, we're gonna…"

XXXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As night fell, the three bandits and Dorcas crept silently towards the Eastern entrance. They reached their destination and, chuckling quietly, one of the bandits entered in first, the others waiting for his signal to continue. After a few moments, with no signal or anything, they began to get nervous.

"Hey!" another bandit whispered into the fortress, "Is the coast clear or what?"

Silence answered him, and he quickly dashed into the fortress himself, leaving the remaining bandit with Dorcas. Minutes passed, and the remaining bandit grew even more worried as nothing happened. Readying his axe, the bandit was about to dash in as well when something flew out of the dark opening. To both his and Dorcas' shock, lodged in his chest was one of his partners' axes.

The bandit fell over, quite dead, and Dorcas jumped as three figures walked out of the opening, one of them being assisted by another. To his further shock, Dorcas recognized one of them.

"Natalie!" He cried out softly, wondering what she would be doing here.

His wife smiled happily and limped over to him, "Dorcas!"

He met her and embraced her tightly, "Natalie, what are you doing in a place like this?"

"I was worried about you, and what you'd be doing to get money for my leg. So I tried to find you. Once I managed to make my way to this fortress, I decided to rest. I thought I heard bandits and tried to hide, but then I found out it was just some travelers. They've welcomed me to stay with them until the sun rose, and I agreed."

"I see," Dorcas nodded, then turned to Mark and Glass, "If that is the case, then I would join you against the bandits in thanks."

Mark grinned, "Good, now I'd like for you to tell me something. How many bandits are there?"

Dorcas took a look of concentration to his face, mentally counting all of the bandits that he'd seen while in their camp. "About…25. With the three dead here, 21 and their leader."

"Alright, good," Mark nodded absently, glancing carefully at Dorcas, temporarily adding him to the plans. "Now Dorcas, take Natalie back inside and there will be two knights on horses near the Southern entrance. Join them, and the red-haired one will inform you of the plans."

The axeman nodded and he and his wife retreated back into the fortress.

Glass grinned at Mark, "Heh, good thing Wil spotted 'some guy who looks like Natalie's husband', huh?"

Mark grinned back, as he and Glass moved into position for the next stage of the attack, "Yeah, one less sorrow to deal with. Now, let's continue the plan."

XXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lyn sighed as she wiped the Mani Katti's blade with her cleaning rag. She had almost been killed for her inability to respond fast enough to what should have been a simple attack. Smiling at Florina next to her, Lyn mused quietly on what had happened a few moments ago.

_A few Moments ago…_

_The axe user bandit and his sword using partner grinned at each other as the wall in front of them crumbled after a few smacks. They chuckled as they thought about the two women who were supposed to be inside. No doubt Carjiga wouldn't mind them having some fun with the women first._

_The axe user sneered and glanced over to his partner, "You know, I heard that one of the women is one of them flying horse riders."_

"_Yeah?" his partner sneered back as he watched the axeman crawl through the hole._

"_Yeah, and I also heard that them flying mules only let 'pure, untainted' women on 'em."_

"_Really," the swordsman continued as his partner began to fit through into the fortress._

"_Yep, and I think that the first thing I'll do is-"_

_The swordsman frowned as his partner failed to finish his sentence. The silence of the night surroundings caused him to become slightly nervous. "Hey! You alright in there?"_

_He slowly crept closer towards the hole, readying his sword as he approached. Reaching the entrance, he carefully stepped into the fortress. He walked further inside, reaching a corner. His steps halted, and his blood froze as he noticed something in the shadows. Creeping closer to it, he gasped as he found out what exactly the thing was. His partner's dead eyes stared unending at him, the large slash in his throat shining with his flowing blood._

_Letting out a horrified moan, the swordsman stumbled back, turning in time to see a flashing sword racing towards him. He raised his iron sword and blocked it, dispelling his horror and shaking, and then pushed hard against his opponent. Hearing a grunt and the sound of someone hitting the ground, he dashed towards his fallen opponent, raising his sword high above him._

_Lyn grunted as the bandit thrust her backwards and mentally panicked as she felt herself trip and fall. She saw the Mani Katti a few feet away from her, much too far away to get to in time to block the now charging bandit. Not seeing a way out, Lyn began to despair, especially once she noticed the bandit right in front of her. He was holding his sword up high, his eyes wild with fear._

_Just as the bandit was about to bring his sword down, he was stopped by a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down, staring blankly as his blood spilled down from the lance wound. Gurgling weakly, he fell to the ground, Florina pulling her lance out of his body as he fell. Directing Huey towards Lyn, Florina held out her hand to help Lyn up._

"_Are you alright, Lyn?" she asked softly._

_Lyn rose to her feet slowly then reached for the Mani Katti and sheathed it back in its scabbard. She turned back to Florina and smiled back at her._

"_Yes, Florina I'm fine. Thank you for the very brave rescue."_

_Florina nodded and they walked back to the newly made hole in the fortress' Eastern wall. After all, at the appointed signal, they would begin their part of the attack._

_XFlashback overX_

"Lyn?"

"Hm?" Lyn looked over at Florina, "What is it?"

"Um, what is it that Mark said will tell us to…um…attack?"

Lyn grinned, "Don't worry Florina, we just have to keep an eye on the sky and we'll know."

Florina nodded, momentarily satisfied, and the two waited to initiate their part in Mark's little scheme.

XXXSCENEXXXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Kent!" Sain whined as he and Kent waited patiently, well, Kent waited patiently, in the shadows near the Southern gate. "Why must we hide in the shadows like some honor less assassins? How will I ever impress Milady Lyndis without an open and fair battle to show off my skills?"

Kent sighed as he attempted to tune Sain's voice out, something he'd been doing many times that night as Sain repeated the same conversation every few minutes. Mark had told him that staying unseen was crucial to his plan. After Wil had seen the four invaders sneaking along the Eastern area, Mark had immediately gone into full tactician mode, spouting out orders to each one of them and heading off towards the Eastern wall, only bringing Glass and Natalie with him.

"Come on, Kent! You agree with me right? I mean, Mark just doesn't understand our knightly prowess, the power we have, the-"

"Sain, be quiet!" Kent hissed, hearing the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the North. "Someone's approaching."

The footsteps grew louder as the person drew closer, and after awhile, Kent could tell it was a strong looking man with dark-red hair, and an axe in his hand, and another projectile axe at his belt. The man paused once he saw them and explained his arrival.

"Mark sent me to help. Name's Dorcas." He gestured towards Kent, "You have my orders?"

Relaxing slightly, Sain grinned and Kent informed Dorcas of the plan.

Dorcas nodded, "Not long now, they should be here any minute."

"Good," Sain muttered, readying his sword, "And when they get here, we'll have our surprise all ready for them."

XXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The main force of the bandits, minus their spotter and Carjiga, quietly sneaked closer to the fortress. They numbered 18, all of them axe-wielders, and each of them eager to spill unsuspecting blood. As they reached the front gate, they began to relax as the people inside obviously had no idea that they were coming.

However, as four of them passed through the entryway, and four more followed, something horrific happened.

"Psst, hey!" one of the bandits standing directly in the entryway whispered to the man beside him, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That weird creaking noise. It almost sounds like-"

The bandit never finished his query, as at that exact moment, the rustic gate that was held above them by a weak chain plummeted down, piercing through the four standing underneath it. The bandits inside jumped and turned around, staring horrified at their dead comrades corpses. This action made them easy prey for Kent and Sain, who rushed from the shadows to run their swords through the shocked bandits. Dorcas' axes finished the other two, a swift axe through one's head, and a deadly hand axe launched into the other's chest.

The bandits outside could only watch in horror as their comrades were decimated so quickly. Wil noticed this and proceeded with the final part of the plan by firing a flaming arrow into the air, his precise aiming allowing it to arc through the night sky and land directly in the chest of one of the bandits. Kent, Sain and Dorcas stepped back into the shadows, allowing Mark to begin his part.

Beneath the bandits' feet, their shadows began to quiver. Elder magic began to envelope the air around them, making it hard to breath, and fear began to sink in their minds as the surrounding area got darker. Soon, they were surrounded completely by darkness, unable to see and unable to think due to fear. Slowly, they moved closer together, though none of them knew why.

"W-What's happening?" one of the bandits asked his neighbor.

The second bandit didn't answer, and the first turned around to question him again. What he saw caused him to stop immediately, then scream in horror as his comrade's bare skull grinned at him. He stepped back, bumping into another bandit and screamed again as the man stared at him, silently pleading for help as his innards poured out of his ripped open torso.

The bandit turned around completely to see what had happened to the others. Overwhelming fear and panic spread through his entire being as he watched the bodies of his fellow bandits being ripped to shreds by strange wolf-like creatures made of ever-shifting shadows. The last thing he saw was a bandit by the name of Hito having his arms torn off, before one of the creatures pounced upon him from behind, and began to tear at his throat.

The wolf-like creatures continued to rip and tear the bandits' bodies until only the bones were left. Then, with a haunting howl to the dark sky, they slowly faded away, along with the Elder magic. The area in front of the gate lay vacant, the only evidence of the previous slaughter being the bones of the bandits lying scattered across the ground.

Deep within a nearby grove of trees, a shocked Glass stared at where the bandits had been, then at Mark. "What…was that?!"

Mark didn't reply for a few moments, still in the final stages of dispelling the summoning. "…Oh, that was a DarkWolf summon. Getting them here isn't too hard, it's the sending them back that gives people problems."

Glass gulped, "Is it an advanced spell?"

"No, not really. The wolves exist in the magical realm already; the spell just…lures them to our world. Then they rip and kill everything in their path, leaving nothing they sense alive. That's why I had Kent, Sain and Dorcas remain behind the gate." Mark sighed and cracked his neck, "Then it's just using your magic to force them back into their realm. If you don't have enough, or don't use it right, they know where you are and they most likely kill you."

"Why haven't other magic users used spells like this before?"

"They have, just not recently. In these days, simple fireballs or thunderbolts are enough to deal with most things. However, any mage or monk or shaman could easily form something like this. It just takes a good understanding of magic's build and enough energy. Should we have a magic user join us on our journey, then I might teach them how to do something like this."

Mark sighed again, "Either way, go check with Kent and the others. I'll go make sure Lyn and Florina are alright."

Glass nodded and walked back to the fortress, mentally thanking the gods that Mark had decided to let him live and had allowed him to join with the party, instead of ending up against them sometime.

Mark grunted as he lifted himself up, making sure to bring his three books with him, "Alright Lyn, like you wanted, I gave you the boss, you better have him dead by the time I get there."

XXXXXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Dammit! Dammit! Why…How!? What the hell was that?!" Carjiga roared as he watched his men ripped apart by the DarkWolves. There was no way he could hope to match those beasts, he had to get back to the Boss and let her know about this new upset. As he turned to retreat, he was thrown offset by the flurry of wings that hid the lance that pierced his gut. Carjiga roared in pain as the winged blur flew a few yards away, dropping of a lone figure who rushed to meet him, sword drawn.

Ignoring the pain, Carjiga raised his axe to meet the sword, growling viciously at Lyn while she glared stonily at him. They clashed again, Lyn pushing his axe to the side using his momentum and landing another stab on his chest. He snarled and thrust out his arm, catching her in the stomach and pushing her back. The two paused, catching their breath as they glared at each other.

Finally, Lyn broke the silence, "Are you Taliver?"

"What?! How dare you refer to us Ganelons as those wretched Taliver scum!" Carjiga spat, clearly disgusted by the thought of being Taliver.

"Hmph," Lyn snorted, "Fine, then I'll make your death swift."

"Grr. Damn you!" Carjiga leapt for Lyn, axe raised high above his head. Lyn stood still until he was right before her, dashing to the left and stabbing through his heart as he passed. Carjiga stumbled and fell to his knees, mumbling out his final words, "Ugh…Not like this…Boss, I'm…sorry…ugh!"

Lyn wiped off the blade of the Mani Katti, then walked back to the waiting Florina. They lifted themselves onto Huey and flew off, leaving Carjiga to die. As they left eyesight, though, a figure stepped out from the small nearby grove of trees. The figure walked up to Carjiga and knelt down beside him.

"Hm, still alive, bandit?" Mark asked, building up some Elder Magic.

Carjiga groaned, but offered no additional response. Mark grinned as his hand glowed darkly with the Elder Magic and placed his hand on the back of Carjiga's head.

"Now let's learn a little bit about this 'Boss' of yours, shall we?"

Carjiga groaned again as various memories regarding the Boss flew through his mind and into the vacuum that formed where Mark's hand lay. Mark hummed as the memories and information entered his own mind, letting him know as much about the Boss as Carjiga did. The information began to slow until it completely stopped, and Mark removed his hand from the now dead Carjiga.

"Oh, you couldn't handle the strain, could you?" Mark mused, standing back up and brushing the dirt off of his cloak. He sighed and began his trip back to the fortress, a small grin on his face from finding out who the Boss was, already beginning to plan for future skirmishes that they'd no doubt end up facing.

XXXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time Mark got back to the fortress, the others had already met and formed guard positions. Only Kent, Glass and Lyn were awake to greet him, and only Lyn had news of any importance.

"By the way, Mark, Dorcas said that he would care to join us, and I agreed. He'll return Natalie to their home village and catch up to us afterwards."

Mark grunted softly and nodded, tired from his trek to Carjiga and back. He walked over to a corner by Glass, who greeted him with a nod which he returned, and sat down. After adding Dorcas to his future plans, Mark yawned and began to snooze. Right before he fell completely asleep, one lone thought invaded his mind.

'Soon, Miss Kyoubou, we're gonna see each other again. And maybe then we'll be able to discuss our little past 'problem'.'

XXXXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"L-Lady Kyoubou! We have the spotter from Carjiga's unit! He says that they've been annihilated!"

"Hm, really? Bring him in."

The scout entered franticly, bowing low as he reached the Boss's throne. "Lady Kyoubou! We…we stood no chance, ma'am. There was this magic user and he…he made these…these wolves! Out of nothing! And they ripped through our men like they were leaves! Then a swordswoman slew Carjiga, and the magic user made his hand glow and-"

"Wait! You said his hand glowed?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Really. Then that means it's…" She suddenly grinned and leapt up, reaching for her Killer Axe and Tomahawk as she walked to the scout and knelt by him. "Tell me, what did he look like?"

"Uh-uh-he-uh-he looked pretty normal. Dark brown hair, I think green eyes, and he had this green cloak around him. And-and he had three spell books! One of each magic type!"

Kyoubou grinned, "Yep, that's my Toumoku for ya. Always trying to keep it simple. Alright, try and get all our boys and girls out of their way, got it? We don't wanna mess with him."

The scout nodded and raced off to spread the news. Back in the throne room, Kyoubou grinned and readied her things. After all, she had a long lost friend to visit. Her knuckleheads could take care of themselves for such a short amount of time anyway.

_Booya! Done with…5…I think… after all this time. In my procrastinating lazy face! 6 whenever. _


	6. Beyond the Borders

_Here's Chapter 6. Yeah, that's all for today._

_Little Extra: For the 5 or so years that I've owned this game, I always thought that Bern was up North, above Sacae and Next to Ilia. Weird._

_Also, tiny chapter compared to last one. Sorry._

_Author's Response to Reviewers :( Damn, it's been awhile since this)_

_Firedude(I think that's your name: Thank you; and no, I think I stated, please don't hate me, that this is a MarkxNils and KentxLyn story. To defend myself, The MarkxNils pairing is more for plot than actually caring about the pairing._

Chapter 6: Beyond the Borders

As the morning sun rose in the sky, Lyndis's Legion found themselves traveling further Southwest. Dorcas and Natalie had left for their village, Dorcas promising to catch up to them afterwards. As they traveled closer and closer to the border, though, Sain was unable to contain his excitement.

"At last! Soon, O beloved Lycia, soon we shall return to your loving embrace! Just by tomorrow we shall dine on the greatest of Lycia's cuisine. Oh! And the mistress of the crossing's inn is said to be a true beauty! Ah, food and love, there is no better cure for a weary man's soul! This truly promises to be a fine evening, huh Kent?"

"You would be overjoyed that there's a **mistress** at the inn, wouldn't you Sain?" Mark muttered under his breath, "Just can't wait to return to a woman's whip and collar, huh?"

Glass snickered and the two watched, amused, as Kent berated Sain for his outburst. "We might as well just stay elsewhere if your manner continues to be so deplorable! We are not here to sightsee!"

"But Kent," Sain whined, "That's not fair!"

Lyn smiled gently at them, "Kent, the inn will be fine. I'm sure that Sain will at least try to behave himself."

"As you say, milady."

"Oh Lyndis!" Sain cooed, "You truly are an angel from up high!"

"Relax Sain," Lyn waved him off, "It's nothing. Forget about it."

"It seems strange," Wil mused, "that we haven't been attacked by the Ganelons yet. I thought that they'd at least-"

"AAAAIIIIIEEEEEE!"

The group jumped at the sudden scream and they quickly looked at Florina, who stared back at them with a red face.

"W-What?" she asked them, confused by all of them staring at her, "I-it wasn't me."

"Florina's right," Mark informed them, forming Elder magic in his hands. He created a small circle in the ground with a nearby stick and slammed his palms in the middle of the circle. It glowed bright for a few moments before the light died and revealed an image in place of the circle.

It showed a group of 7 bandits surrounding 2 bound prisoners. One of them was a pink-haired girl in a cleric's robe who was apparently screaming and whining about something. The other was a purple-haired boy wearing a red-hooded cloak over a blue tunic and tan pants. He was shaking his head in what seemed to be despair as his companion continued to rant.

"Well now, looks like our pursuers have decided to menace someone else. Your orders, Lyn?"

"What do you mean, Mark?" Lyn asked him.

Mark sighed, "It's up to you; do we assist those two and crush the bandits, or do we continue on our merry way and forget about them?"

Lyn glared hard at him, "I would never leave anyone to those beasts!" She turned to the others, "Prepare yourselves; we're going to save them!"

"Gather round then," Mark snapped, "Just because there aren't too many of them, doesn't mean you can just charge in there. First thing; they are directly Southeast of us, in that forest over there. Alright Wil, give me one of your arrows."

Wil complied, and Mark summoned Anima magic to his hands again, then directed it into the arrow. He handed it back to Wil and continued his plan. "Listen Wil, I want you to climb a nearby tree and on my signal, fire that arrow into the biggest group of bandits at the time."

He looked back at the image circle, "It would seem that their leader is surrounded by two lackeys, aim for him. The magic will cause a small explosion that will take all three out. Kent, Sain, I saw at least two sword-users in their group; use your lances to deal with them. Dorcas, try and deal with their archers, Lyn and Florina, same to you. Glass, if you see anyone struggling, help them out."

Mark paused and regarded them with a serious glance, "Listen to me. If any of you see an enemy attempt to strike a fatal blow to an unguarded ally, stop what you're doing and help them. A wound is better than death. To better work with that plan, Strike fast, and once your element of surprise is gone, band together in a circle around the two prisoners. Got it?"

They all nodded and moved to their respective positions, leaving Mark alone to chuckle to himself. 'Heh, none of them even noticed Dorcas's random showing up just for the plan. Man's good at quiet approaches, I'll remember that.'

And so, as Lyndis's Legion moved to rescue the two people captured by bandits, Mark instead moved to the East; to a weapon shop he knew to be nearby.

'I'm sure they can handle themselves against so few and so weak.'

XXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I demand that you ruffians untie me at once! I will not stand for this you…you…you rapscallions!"

Erk sighed as Serra continued to complain and yell at their captors. 'Yeah, like the past times you've spent screaming has worked so well, why not keep going, you demon? After all, if you keep annoying them, maybe they'll just kill you and let me go. Or at least make mine quick.'

Erk was torn from his mental complaining by the scream of pain from the bandit leader, followed by, to Erk's shock, an explosion of Anima magic. The three bandits were killed almost instantly, throwing the other bandits into shock and actually, Erk thanked St Elimine, causing Serra to stop talking.

Two cavaliers, one in green armor, the other in red, dashed from the shadows of the forest to impale the two sword using bandits on their lances. One archer recovered quickly and was about to fire an arrow when a large red-haired man cut him down with a fierce axe blow. The final bandit, another archer, growled and desperately fired an arrow that hit the green cavalier in the leg. Said archer was quickly disarmed by a Pegasus knight's lance piercing his arm, and then killed by a swordswoman's blade slitting his throat.

After checking with her companions, the swordswoman knelt down by them and untied the ropes that were bound around them. Erk sighed in relief and stretched his arms and legs to get feeling back in them. Serra, in the meanwhile, had strolled over to the sack where the bandits had put their things and recovered her staff and his book. She returned to Erk's side and they watched as the swordswoman smiled at them.

"Hello, my name is Lyn," Lyn greeted them; "I hope you two are alright. Did the bandits harm you in any way?"

"No, we're fine." Erk replied, hoping to end this quickly before Serra got them into even more trouble, "Thank you for rescuing us though. We'll be on our way now."

Serra, however, had different plans. "You have rescued us from those bandits. I cannot, in good conscience, let such a deed go unrewarded. Therefore, I will join your group in whatever little quest you're on. And so will my servant, Erk."

Erk sighed, 'Blasted she-devil. She's just doing this to have a group of people to protect her.'

"Are you sure?" Lyn asked them, although it was mostly to Serra, "Our journey is going to be quite dangerous. There will be assassins and many other attackers after us."

"Really, hm… then maybe-"

Serra was interrupted by Sain riding up next to them, "Ah! Milady Lyndis! I'm afraid that your magnificent knight Sain has suffered a horrid wound to his leg! I'm afraid that I'll be unable to assist for some time."

"Milady?" Serra repeated, "Oh, are you of some royalty, Lyn?"

Lyn looked sheepish; however, Sain had no trouble in bragging about his Lady in front of a pretty girl. "Of course! Lyndis is the granddaughter of the Marquis of Caelin!"

"Really? You're such an important person, Lyn?" Serra asked, her eyes shining with what Erk had come to describe as her 'I'm-gonna-con-you-outta-something' look.

"Well, yes," Lyn admitted, "That's why I want to make sure you're okay with joining us. It's very dangerous."

"Of course we'll join you, Lyn," Serra declared, as though Lyn had insulted her with her concern, "After hearing such a tale, I just couldn't leave you without my healing abilities! And Erk's magic is yours to use as well."

'Heehee,' Serra mentally congratulated herself, 'It's always a good idea to have someone of high standing in my debt. Woohoo! Go me!'

"Magic?" Lyn asked, "Well, we also have a magic user as our tactician."

"Really?" Erk asked her, "Is he the one who modified that arrow?"

Lyn nodded, "Yes, Mark's able to do a lot of things I'd never of imagined."

"Lyn's right," Glass interrupted, joining them after patrolling the nearby area, "Mark can do a lot. He said that if a magic user should join us, he might teach them how to do some things."

"Really," Erk looked skeptical, "Like what?"

"Well, Mark did this thing using Dark magic and summoned some things called DarkWolves during a bandit attack. He told me that it's been some time since magic users have needed to use such spell, and that only things like fireballs and thunder was necessary for this time."

"A…summoning?" Erk questioned to himself out loud, "Lord Pent had mentioned them, but…is that possible?"

Glass shrugged, "Eh, don't worry about it. If Mark likes ya, he'll teach ya. Simple as that."

Lyn turned to Sain, "You said that your leg was wounded?"

Sain nodded, "Yes milady, I'm afraid that an archer got me by luck and-"

"Oh! Hold up!" Serra yelled to them, "Let me fix it! Just a wave of my healing staff and your leg will be fine!"

She knelt down to Sain's leg and pressed the jewel of the staff to the wound. Sain winced, then stared in wonder as the blood disappeared and the pain faded. Serra stood back up, grinning victoriously at her deed.

"Wow." Sain murmured, staring first at his leg, then at Serra, "Oh thank you, my positively delectable beauty! Oh, that such a goddess would deign to heal one such as me! My utmost thanks!" He dropped to one knee and kissed her hand.

"Oh good sir!" Serra giggled, smacking Sain across the head with her staff, "Don't flatter me so!"

"Milady Lyndis," Kent approached, carefully stepping over Sain's prone form, "I am unable to locate Mark. Do you know where he is?"

"Mark isn't here?" Lyn repeated at him, "Then, where is he?"

"Ah, I'm right here, Lyn." Mark muttered, walking out from the refuge of trees he had been standing in. "And I just had a…situation to deal with."

"Good," Lyn smiled then turned back to Serra and Erk, "And thank you for joining us. This is Mark, our tactician and the magic user I told you about."

Serra greeted him politely, while Erk seemed to glare at him.

"Lady Lyndis and Glass say that you are capable of unique magic. Magic like summoning creatures to fight for you. Is this true?" Erk asked Mark cautiously.

Mark regarded Erk with a judging look that left Erk feeling like his entire soul was laid bare, "Yes…I am capable of such magics. Tell me, Erk was it? What type of magic do you use?"

"Anima," Erk responded warily.

"Ah, then I'll be able to teach you some tricks to add to your arsenal. But not now, once we set up camp I start teaching you."

Mark turned to the others who were waiting for their orders, "Alright everyone, let's continue marching. We'll probably be camping out tonight, so when we get there, go to Kent or Sain for your tents. Let's go!"

Those with horses mounted theirs, having the others who didn't have such transportation join them afterwards. Serra joined Florina on Huey, and immediately began chatting the poor Ilian up the second she could. Glass continued his riding with Sain and Wil joined Kent. Dorcas sat with Lyn on Myriad, being the only male that could honestly be trusted as he was happily married and loyal, and Erk was left to sit on Konigin with Mark.

They continued on in relative silence, leaving Mark to reminisce on his 'situation' that he'd dealt with during the other's skirmish.

_XXXFLASHBACKXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

_After the others had gone off, Mark had begun a lone trek towards a weapon shop that was nearby. Halfway there though, he suddenly paused and dashed into a forest near him. He dashed through, stopping finally at an open area near the Southern end. He halted and stood still, waiting._

_His wait was short-lived, however, as a large Tomahawk flew through the air and towards his head. He glared at it and raised his left hand. A swift gust flew from behind him and halted the Tomahawk in its path. He cut the wind, letting the axe drop to the ground, and turned to face his attacker, readying himself for another attack._

_He was not ready, however, for the monster bear hug he was enveloped in, or the joyous voice ringing in his ears as he was thrown to and fro by the hug. "Oh! Toumoku! It is you! Oh my gods, it's so good to see you again!"_

"_Kyou…bou…Good to…see you…too," Mark croaked out, "Kyoubou…can't…breath…stop…hugging me!"_

"_Oh!" Kyoubou dropped him, letting him land in an ungraceful heap on the ground before lifting him back to his feet as though he weighed nothing. "Sorry Toumoku! I'm just so happy to see you again."_

_Mark glared at Kyoubou, attempting to catch his breath, "Yeah, I could tell, you Amazon Berserker!"_

_Kyoubou certainly was an Amazon, standing a full 7 and a half feet tall, with bronze skin and thin sinewy muscles all over. She wore a simple tattered loin cloth skirt with armor over her chest and left arm. Her eyes and hair were common brown, as her father's were, and a thin scar ran across her nose._

"_All right, Kyoubou," Mark muttered, looking uncomfortable, "What can you tell me so far?"_

_Kyoubou seemed uncomfortable too, "I'm sorry Toumoku, I've tried to find the others, but I haven't been able to find any of them." She grinned at Mark, "You taught us too well on how to hide."_

"_Hm," Mark mused, as he knew the situation wasn't good. Something big was building up and having the others with him would have reassured him. "Alright then, Kyoubou, how have you been?" He grinned back at her, "Teaching those bandits to respect you as a woman?"_

"_Hah!" Kyoubou laughed, "Those wimps are so loyal to me, they'd be willing to follow me through Hell and back! That's another thing you taught, Toumoku; how to inspire loyalty in your troops. Only problem we've had is with this band called the Taliver. They got no honor, and they're just killing for killing."_

"_Hm, do you know where they are? Their home base?"_

"_Yeah, up in some of the Bern Mountains, here's a map to their base."_

"_Good, good. I'll send someone up there to deal with them later. Also, tell me the truth, have your Ganelons really been messing with the villages?"_

"_No, I've been making them work more as mercenaries against other bandits. My boys and girls mostly try and protect villages in exchange for food or supplies. It's just, we can't protect them all, all the time."_

"_I see. Either way, it's good to see you again."_

"_You too, Toumoku! After all this time, it's nice to see a familiar face again."_

_Mark grinned and hugged her one last time, "Well, Kyoubou, I'm off. Got a lordling to lead."_

_Kyoubou grinned and waved him off, "Yeah, well, if I get any clues on the others, I'll send a footman out to tell you."_

"_Hey, Kyoubou," Mark's voice was quiet now, serious, "Start training all your people. I mean it. I don't know when, but…something is gonna happen. Something big. And if we're not prepared, then we'll all gonna die."_

_Kyoubou nodded, "You got it, Toumoku. I'll start training them right away."_

"_Good," Mark sighed, and walked through the trees to where he knew Lyndis's Legion would be waiting. _

_Kyoubou watched him until his form faded from her view, then began her journey back to her base. One thought dominated her mind, 'Gotta prepare. If Toumoku's worried, I gotta get ready!'_

_XXXFLASHBACKXXXXXXOVERXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Mark sighed again, wishing that Kyoubou had at least heard of one of the others' whereabouts.

'No matter,' he decided, glancing about at his little group of happy soldiers, 'I'll just have to make it work myself.'

XXXSCENEXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"The brat has crossed the border?!" Lundgren howled furiously at the messenger.

"Yes L-Lord Lundgren! She's en route to Araphen and-"

"You damned fool!" Lundgren's fist struck the messenger across the head, "Send soldiers out to meet her! Stop at nothing to eliminate that brat! Finish this now!"

Lundgren groaned as the messenger picked himself up, mentally cursing Lundgren, "First the old man, and now this girl…They cling to their lives like drowning men to rocks! Double the poison's strength!"

He glared at the messenger, "If he refuses to drink it, then force it down his throat!"

The messenger stared incredulously at Lundgren, doubting his loyalty to the power-mad man in front of him.

Lundgren turned to a nearby window, missing the messenger's stare, "Once the girl is gone, Caelin is mine!"

A small bird landed on his outstretched palm, "I will let no one! No one interfere with my plans!" The small bird screamed as Lundgren's fist crushed him, then fell silent, his body tossed away like a discarded puppet toy.

"There will be no interference. I will personally crush all who would oppose me!"

_Hm, there's Chapter 6. Two in one week, damn, that's bad karma for me._


	7. Blood of Pride

This is amazing. After… (Checks update information)…approximately 3 months of nothing, I have returned. I live! But, enough of that, moving on.

First: I have noticed a mistake of mine in Ch. 5. You know, the one with Dorcas and the large amount of Author's Notes that would have you think I did a competent job of proofreading my own story. Whatever, the mistake is in the 1st Lyn and Florina scene, with the flashback/fight, I mentioned that _they __walked back to the newly made hole in the fortress' Eastern wall. _Yeah, that's wrong. I meant Western wall, as Glass and Mark used the Eastern Wall. Sorry.

Second: In some regards to the First above, should anyone see anything in my story that A) Doesn't match up with Fire Emblem laws unless I've already defended/explained it, or B) Isn't grammatically or situationally correct, please alert me to said mistakes that you find. And don't worry about flames; I actually want them! Of course, I'll only read the ones that point out actual problems.

Third: O…M…F…G!!! This chapter…hated/hates me… with all of its being. It took me about 2 weeks to think up the basic plot of it, then I forget my first draft, then Summer break comes and I lose another 2 weeks thinking up a new plot which I'm 80 sure is a cheap knockoff of my first one! So I apologize profusely Bows till head smacks the floor.

I sincerely hope that most of you, but mostly Timcampy-chan as she's the only repeated reviewer and the only one whose name I can remember, can at least tolerate this chapter or hopefully enjoy it. (Wow, rereading this just puts in perspective just how much self-depreciation I have for my own work. Interesting.)

Fourth: I apologize for the rushed feeling some may have gotten from the last chapter. At the time I thought that I'd gotten all I wanted in at an appropriate level, but I can clearly see that I probably left some confusion. If anyone is confused, please bear with me and wait it out. Things will become clear, eventually.

Fifth: Y'know the ruler of Araphen? That jerk that totally dissed Sacae? Yeah, I made him nice. Also, because the idea of switches sucks, they're gone. Another also, Matthew is like a last minute thing.

Response to Reviewers!

Timcampy-chan: Yeah, I guess it's coming along to being a kinda more violent than other Fire Emblem stories may/have be/been. But, should I not forget everything for this story in my head, along with the Outlaw Star story, the Neon Genesis Evangelion story, the Love Hina story, etc, then things should become clear by chapter…22ish. Thank you for your repeated reviewing.

Ooh! Also, something darkly beautiful from one of my favorite game series, .hack.

"_Like a frenzied horse that is driven. An unseen wind of plague shrieks across the border. Pandemonium, wailing, and stench of carnage fills the air. There is no place to run. No hope of escape. Those who are mourned will never return. The hands of time cannot be turned back._"

— Fidchell —

Damn, that's just…beautiful. Truly beautiful.



Also, this chapter is a tad different from the game. So…watch out, or something.

Okay, I think it's time for the chapter. Here it is.

Chapter 7: Blood of Pride

(Now there's a competent title)

"Maark! Are we there yet?"

Mark sighed as Serra continued to whine for what had to be the fortieth time in the last hour.

"Serra," he calmly asked her as he pointed to Araphen, still a few miles ahead of them, "do you see the city up there?"

"Hmph! Of course I do! What about it?"

"Well Serra, if the city's up there, and we're still here, then I'm sure a smart girl like yourself can answer this for me. Are we there yet?"

"Of course not!" she scoffed, as though he were the one who'd been asking the question over and over, "If the city is over there then it's obvious that we're not there yet! Geez, and **you're** our tactician?"

Erk watched in a strange form of respect as Mark hid his frustration from talking to Serra and willed his self-control to prevent him from sending a fireball at the cleric. The only clue to Mark's true feelings of the matter was his twitching left eye that seemed to hold a manic gleam to it.

Mark sighed, tuning the pink-haired healer out, and focused back on Erk again. "Alright Erk, back to what we were talking about. How exactly do you want to improve your magical arsenal? Do you want a new spell? Or do you want to improve and modify spells you already know?"

Erk seemed confused, "You're letting me choose?" _'Why is he letting me choose? This is definitely different from Master Pent's teachings. Master Pent would have me read up on a spell, then have me cast it until I got it right.'_

At Mark's nod, he continued, "Well, what are some examples of new spells I could learn? Could you teach me summons?"

"Examples?" Mark asked, a slight smile on his face, "Hell, anything you can think of."

Erk stared at Mark for a few seconds, "…Is that it?"

Mark nodded, "Yep, just think it and put magic in it. Simple as that. For example…" He held out his hand and moments later, a fireball former in his palm. He glanced at it and it quickly changed to a ball of lightning, then water, and finally it turned to stone.

Mark grinned and handed the ball of rock to Erk, who stared at it, then Mark, and back to the rock again.

"H-how…did you…I mean…how?!" Erk managed, shocked by the ease that Mark had shown while doing something as complex as altering elements.

"Simple, Erk. Well, at least the basic idea is simple." Mark gestured to the rock in Erk's hands, "Even though you asked about new spells, that rock is actually just a modification to a simple fireball. See how it's made of Earth now? Try concentrating your magic on the Earthly attributes of the rock."

Erk stared at the rock and concentrated, and after a few moments, let out a soft sigh. "Alright Mark, I've got the make-up of the rock in my head. Now what?"

"Now, let's see; you're probably most familiar with fire by now, so try imagining the basic attributes of a fireball, roughly the same size as the rock. Just remember to keep the rock's make-up in your mind as well."

As Erk concentrated, Mark mused to himself about his new 'apprentice'. 'He's quick. Got a good amount of magical reserve and if I do this right, he should be able to access that ocean of magical power he's got in him pretty quickly.'

"Mark," Erk called out, snapping the tactician out of his thoughts.

To Mark's surprise, instead of holding a rock in his hand, Erk was holding a slightly floating fireball.

"Figured it out, did you, Erk?" Mark asked, grinning with pride.

"I thought about how you were having me go about learning this spell. The way you kept mentioning the attributes and the make-up of the rock and fireball made me think that by simply replacing the rock's attributes of Earth with the fireball's Fire make-up, then I could probably alter them like you did." Erk let out a small sigh as he attempted to recover his breath.

Mark stared at Erk with pride shining in his eyes again. 'Hah! I knew this kid was sharp! Didn't even take him 5 minutes to figure it out. Well now, Erk, this looks like the start of a fine partnership.'

"So, Erk," Erk looked up at Mark as the tactician continued his lesson, "I think it's obvious that you want to start with altering the spells you know now instead of creating new spells. And that's fine; we'll just start on new spells after I teach you about modification."

Mark looked back towards the road, noticing Araphen coming up closer until they were only a few dozen yards away. "Alright Erk, I'm sure your past magic teacher assigned you work, so here it is; All I want you to do is practice turning a simple fireball to a sphere with the properties of each of the four basic elements. That's all. I want you to do this until you can do it without even having to concentrate on the make-up of each element."

"Mark!" The tactician turned to his left to see Kent, who Mark had sent up ahead to secure a place for their horses, riding back to his side. "It would appear that Araphen has undergone some sort of change. The men posted at the front gate did not bear any emblem of Araphen's militia. I hid behind a wall and managed to overhear part of their conversation. Apparently, some of Caelin's more…distasteful soldiers have joined Lundgren in his quest to eliminate Lady Lyndis. One regiment, led by a knight Sain and I trained with, Boor, has apparently just attempted a takeover of Araphen to prevent the marquis from helping Lady Lyndis. Only the Captain of the Guard and a few others are left. Your orders, Mark?"

"Hmm. You say that these soldiers have given their loyalty to Lundgren?"

Kent nodded, "Yes, it seems that a few soldiers had issues with a Sacaen taking control."

"I see, then you should have no qualms with their deaths?"

Kent shook his head in negative, "None, whatsoever."

Mark smirked, "Good." He turned around and motioned for everyone to gather around him, "Listen up everyone. Araphen is currently being taken over by Lundgren supporters. According to Kent, only the Captain of the Guard and some extremely loyal troops remain to fight back these invaders. Seeing as we came here seeking assistance, I see this as a perfect opportunity to have the marquis here owe us. Pay attention, here are your orders."

XXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The three guards stationed outside of Araphen's front gates lounged about, not really bothering to do too much of anything they didn't have to. Sure, if some travelers passed by, they'd heckle them until they were sure the travelers weren't bringing weapons, but they felt no real need to search anyone. After all, it wasn't like Araphen was their home. They were just there to secure the town and marquis so there would be no support for the Sacaen said to be nearby. It also meant that when the girl arrived at Araphen, she'd be easily captured, after all, why would she suspect an ambush from Lundgren in Araphen?

They hadn't even been here for a whole day yet, only managing to capture the marquis but a few hours ago. This had sent the remaining Araphen soldiers into hiding until they were ready for a military takeover. Of course, given Araphen's lack of militia, combined with the backstabbing from a good twenty of Araphen's soldiers, the takeover would have a long time to wait.

The three lazing guards were interrupted from their napping by the sudden arrival of two horsemen and a mage. Looking closer, the guards noticed that the left-most rider, the one with brilliant red hair, had an unconscious girl with dark-green hair over his shoulder.

One of the guards peered up at the rider, "…Kent? Izat you?"

"Hmph." Kent snorted, "Of course it is. Now move over and open the gate. Sain and I have captured the girl."

"The girl?" The second guard asked, before realizing what Kent was talking about. "You mean-! You captured that Lyndis girl?" 

"Of course we have!" Sain yelled at him, "Did you actually doubt our ability?!"

The third guard cringed, "No! It's not that, it's just…You two were sent out before Lord Lundgren made the orders. How did you know-"

The mage sighed impatiently, "Lord Lundgren sent me to deliver their orders to capture the girl. Conveniently, they'd already gotten her to trust them and we were able to incapacitate her. Now let us in; we've got to put her with the other criminals until Lord Lundgren gives out further orders!"

"O-Of course!" the first guard scrambled to the top of the guard tower where the gate switch was hidden on a wall. He pulled the switch and the gate began to rise.

"Hmph, finally." Sain grumbled, and began moving his horse through the gateway and to the castle to find the dungeon.

"Heh, I gotta tell ya, Kent." The second guard grinned, "For a while, I didn't actually know whether or not you'd be one of Lundgren's supporters. I mean, some of the other soldiers aren't all that happy with him."

Kent urged his horse forward and glared stonily at the guard. "I know where my loyalties lay."

The two guards watched Kent and the mage follow Sain to the castle until the last hair of his red head vanished from sight.

"Hmph! Still seems like Kent is as boorish and serious as usual." The second guard muttered.

"Yeah, but what was with Sain? I've never seen him so…serious." The third asked.

"Eh," the second guard shrugged, "Probably just got turned down by some girl again. You know Sain."

"Ha! Yeah, he's a real card, that Sain." The third guard paused and looked around, "Hey, shouldn't Ruet be down by now?"

"Hm? Hey, yeah! I mean, how long does it take to close the gate and come back down from the tower?"

"Not this long. C'mon, let's go get that idiot. He's probably sleeping on the job again."

The two guards grumbled and trekked up the stairs of the tower. They reached the top and entered the room where the gate switch was located.

"Hey! Ruet! Where are you?"

"Yeah! C'mon Ruet! You know Boor is just gonna dock your pay if he catches you slacking again!"

They searched the room more until the second guard tripped over something with a yelp.

"Argh! Damn it! What was that?"

The third guard walked over and helped him up, "Hey, what did you trip over anyway?"

"Over there! I tripped over…" The second guard pointed to what he'd tripped over and froze. "…over…over…"

"Hey, what is it?" the third guard asked, then looked over to what the other was pointing at. "…What the hell?!"

The two stared in horror at the headless body of their fellow guard, stuck and hanging from the wall by his own sword. They each began to step back when the third guard saw something wet fall on the second guard's shoulder.

"Hey, hold still; there's something on your shoulder." The guard wiped it off and inspected it. "It looks like…blood?"

They both stiffened as more drops landed on their heads. Shaking in fear, they looked up, and gaped horrified at the image before them.

The eyeless head of the first guard, hanging from a piece of rope held to the ceiling by an arrow, stared back at them, blood slowly but steadily dripping from the eye sockets. Even worse, behind the head was a message writing in what had to be the first guard's blood.

The second guard fearfully began to read the message out loud, flinching as a few drops of blood hit his face, "N..O…M..E..R..C..Y…T..O…T..R..A..I..T..O..R..S…?"

The third guard looked confused, " 'No Mercy To Traitors?' What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means…that those who do not support Lyn…" a voice murmured from behind them.

They whirled around, ready to grab their weapons, fully expecting some monstrous brute, only to see a thin brown-haired man in a green cloak.

"Ha!" the second guard laughed in relief, "It's just some weakling! This will be easy, right?"

The third guard nodded and turned to answer his partner, just in time to see the guard's head completely destroyed by a thin whip of fire. He yelped and turned back to the thin man to find the man's palm in his face. Adding to the guard's fear was the opaque black orb swirling in the man's hand.

"…are to be terminated. Immediately." Mark finished, letting the flux orb loose at the guard.

Mark turned around and walked out of the room, paying no mind to the bodies behind him. He exited the tower, nodding towards Glass and Dorcas, who'd been assigned as his partners, and had just returned from their elimination of traitorous Caelin soldiers, and the three continued towards Araphen's castle. After all, Mark had assigned for the three of them to wipe out all of the enemy soldiers in the city before moving on to the castle, and their job was done, leaving them to assist Florina, Serra and Wil in removing opposition from the castle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Kent," Lyn tried, while not exactly unhappy with where she was, but still feeling useless.

Kent made no effort to respond, too busy helping Sain carefully check their surroundings for any more guards along the way to the prison area.

"Kent." Lyn tried again, a slight bit of annoyance in her tone.

Again, Kent blocked her out, nodding to Sain to have them begin moving into the prison area.

As they finally made it to the prison cells, where a single body dressed in fine robes could be seen, Lyn lost the last of her patience, "KENT! I demand you let me down!"

Kent looked down at her, his serious frown lessening for a moment, then gently helped her off his horse. Her anger quickly dissipated as she noticed the door they had entered from, and had closed, suddenly creak open. Their hands leapt to their weapons, just as a dark green-haired man on a horse and two soldiers crept in. The two parties stared at each other before Lyn managed to break the silence.

"Who are you three?"

The horseman glared at her in response, while one of the soldiers replied, "Who are we? We're remnants of the Araphen militia; who're you?"

"We are the entourage of Lady Lyndis of Caelin. Here to rescue the marquis." Sain answered back.

The two soldiers immediately relaxed, though the horseman kept his slight glare, and the three stepped closer to the jail cell. The horseman dug into his pocket and drew out a pair of keys on a ring. He handed the keys to one of the soldiers, who unlocked the door and motioned for the other soldier to assist him with the marquis.

"Look out!"

The two guards looked up to see Lyn dashing towards the horseman, her sword drawn. They scrambled to get their weapons without dropping the marquis, but stopped when Lyn passed the horseman by and plunged her sword into the chest of one of the traitorous ex-Araphen guards who was about to attack the horseman. Lyn turned around to see the horseman staring at her. Staring at her sword.

"That sword…" the horseman started, then trailed off, his eyes wide with surprise.

Lyn nodded, "Yes, this is the Mani Katti, the holy sword of Sacae. You appear to be of Sacaen descent, from what tribe are you from? I am Lyn, of the Lorca tribe."

The horseman looked surprised, "The Lorca? There were survivors?"

At Lyn's nod, he continued, " I am Rath, of the Kutolah tribe. As a man of the plains, I thank you, Lyn of the Lorca, for your assistance. A thousand blessings to you."

Lyn smiled back at Rath, "And a thousand curses upon our enemies."

"Heh, hey, that's real nice and poetic and all, but would someone mind helping me out?"

They all turned to a different jail cell to see a sandy-haired young man in a red cloak grinning cheekily at them.

"C'mon, please? I'm only in here because they caught me stealing from the guards that betrayed Araphen."

The guard with the keys threw them to Lyn, who in turn unlocked the young man's cell.

With a yell of excitement, the young man leapt out of his cell and gratefully shook Lyn's hand, "Hey! Thanks a lot! I'm really grateful, really! In fact…" here the young man's grin grew, while he celebrated his good luck in his mind, 'Yes! I'm free **and** I locate the Caelin girl! Lord Uther won't be angry now!' "…I've decided to join you and whoever else in your group! Name's Matthew, thief extraordinaire!"

Too shocked by his forwardness to manage any other reply, Lyn merely nodded and returned to Kent and Sain's side, Matthew right behind her. He took his place next to Erk, who was staring at him incredulously.

'Matthew?! As in 'the reason I'm stuck with Serra' Matthew?!'

"Ugh…"

Lyn and her group turned to see the marquis starting to regain consciousness. His two guards nodded to Rath and began moving the marquis out of his cell. As they passed Lyn, the marquis suddenly motioned for them to stop.

"…You…you're…Madelyn's…child?" He managed to ask.

Lyn nodded and the marquis stared at her for a few moments, then signaled his guards to continue on. As they left the doorway, Rath leading the way in case of more guards, the marquis managed to turn around to catch Lyn's gaze, "When you're ready…come to the throne room…I shall await you there."

With that said, the four continued out towards the throne room, leaving Lyn and her group alone in the jail.

Lyn turned to address the others when they were interrupted by someone stepping through the doorway.

"Ah, I see that you've handled things well enough on your part," Mark said as he walked closer, "And my group, as well as Florina's, has taken care of all the guards from Caelin and Araphen who opposed us. Except for one I thought should be brought to your attention."

Mark motioned towards the doorway, where Glass and Dorcas held a stout looking brown-haired man in ponderous armor.

"Bool!" Kent and Sain shouted, glaring at the knight in disappointment.

Mark motioned for the two to halt, and turned to Lyn, "Bool has been brought before you, Lady Lyndis, to be judged as to whether or not…he is deserving of life."

'Lady Lyndis?' Lyn thought to herself in confusion, 'Why is he-Oh! To present an image of dignity!'

"And for what reason," Lyn asked him, while glaring stonily at Bool the entire time, "do you think this knight is worthy of life, Tactician?"

Mark smiled calmly, "To find that out, Lady Lyndis, merely ask Bool as to why he follows Lundgren's orders."

Lyn knelt down to Bool's level, confident that with Glass and Dorcas holding him, she would be protected, "Bool, Knight of Caelin, answer my questions; Why do you follow Lundgren?"

Bool glared at her, "I follow **Lord** Lundgren because he is the stand-in ruler in this time of Lord Hausen's unfortunate sickness."

Lyn masked her worry well, 'Sick?! My grandfather is ill?' "Bool, do you know who I am?"

Bool nodded, confident despite the circumstance, "Of course! As Lord Lundgren told us, you are the horrid bandit who murdered Lord Hausen's daughter, as well as her husband and Lord Hausen's granddaughter!"

"What?!" Sain yelled, "Bool, are you mad?! Lady Lyndis **is** Lord Hausen's granddaughter!"

"She can't be!" Bool retorted, "Lord Lundgren clearly told us, just after you'd left, that bandits had wiped out Lord Hausen's daughter and her family! Bandits led by their leader, her!"

"Bool," Kent forced out, clearly upset at Lundgren's trickery, "Lady Lyndis truly is Lord Hausen's granddaughter. I want you to remember the painting of Lady Madelyn. Do you remember what she looked like?"

Boor nodded slowly, his earlier confidence replaced by a growing sense of dread, and Kent continued, "Now compare that painting with Lady Lyndis."

Bool complied, and gasped as he realized the similarities, "…By the Gods! Kent, you're right! But…that means Lundgren…he…"

"He lied to you," Lyn finished softly, motioning for Glass and Dorcas to release Bool, "and he lied to everyone at Caelin too. And I think he means to kill my grandfather. Sir Bool, proud and loyal knight of Caelin, I ask you to believe me. Please, for my grandfather's sake."

Bool stared at Lyn for a moment before falling before her in a groveling bow, "Oh! Lady Lyndis! Forgive this fool for believing Lundgren's lies. I-I truly thought I was doing the right thing; avenging you and your parents for Lord Hausen. I-Wait! Then…Lord Hausen's illness…"

Bool trailed off in shock, causing Lyn to shake him gently, "What is it Bool? What about my grandfather's illness?"

"…Lady Lyndis, I don't want to say this, but…I believe that Lor-Lundgren is poisoning Lord Hausen!"

"What?!" Lyn, as well as Kent and Sain, gasped out.

"Lundgren has been forcing the servants of the castle to make sure that Lord Hausen drinks some sort of potion that Lundgren's been supplying. Lundgren told us it was a restorative for Lord Hausen's sickness, but he must have really been poisoning him!"

Lyn caught Mark's gaze and nodded, "Alright! Everyone, come with me. We shall meet with the marquis and discuss whether or not he'll help us; then, we march for Caelin!"

She turned to Bool, who was just standing back up with the help of Dorcas, "Sir Bool, will you join us?"

Bool smirked at her, "As a proud knight of Caelin, I'd be honored to join you, Lady Lyndis."

Lyn smiled and headed out the door, nodding in greeting to Florina, Serra and Wil, who were just outside the door. Kent and Sain followed her, smiling and shooting Bool proud looks as they passed him. Florina, Serra, Wil, Matthew and Erk went next, falling in line behind the two cavaliers.

Boor made to follow them, then paused at the doorway and turned to face Mark, "…Thank you. If you had not done this, I would have probably died doing the wrong thing."

Mark nodded back to the knight, "Of course. I have a thing for loyalty, and you Bool, exuded it."

Bool nodded again, then moved to join the others, leaving Mark, Glass and Dorcas behind.

Mark turned to face the other two, "My thanks, you two, for obeying when I asked you to not kill Bool."

Glass grinned, "Jeez, relax already! Didn't I tell ya? I'm completely loyal to you and you alone. Give the order, and no matter how much I dislike it, I'll follow it to the word."

Dorcas nodded in agreement, "…**You** reunited me with Natalie instead of killing me. **You** agreed to let me have this job. **You** are the one who insisted on paying me. You have my loyalty as well."

Mark shook his head and sighed, smiling gently, "Alright. Come on then, let's join the others in negotiations."

XXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The marquis sighed as the guards from before fussed over his injuries. It seemed that he'd not only been deemed a weak threat by Lundgren, an upstart who wasn't even a marquis yet, but all of his soldiers, except those most loyal, had betrayed him for gold, and he himself had been thrown in a prison cell, only to be rescued by Lyndis, the daughter of Madelyn, the woman that he'd loved.

He looked over at Rath, faithfully standing guard in case some idiot soldier attempted to assassinate him. But a day ago he'd have dismissed the Sacaen nomad, probably insulted him and his background. Today though, his entire view had been altered. Of all his soldiers, only a few Araphen-born ones and Rath, Rath the Sacaen, had remained loyal. Not to mention he'd been rescued by the half-Sacaen daughter of Madelyn. Perhaps…he'd been wrong.

"Rath…" he started, then paused as knocking came from the other side of the throne room's doors.

"Marquis Araphen?" He heard that girl, Lyndis, call, "It is I, Lyndis. Are you well enough to grant an audience?"

"…Yes, child," He replied, motioning for the two guards to open the doors.

They complied, and Lyn and her troops entered the hall. Rath tensed at the sight of Bool, but a glance from Lyn reassured him.

The marquis stared at her for some time, "…Child, no, Lyndis. Do you know who is responsible for this assault on Araphen?"

Lyn seemed to wilt at his cold tone, "I…believe it to be the work of my granduncle, Lundgren."

The marquis nodded, "That's right. My town was invaded, assaulted, and I myself was thrown in a cell due to this family dispute!"

"My-My apologies, sir. I-"

"No!" He yelled, "Save your apologies! This will not stand! I have never been so humiliated!"

Lyn remained silent, unable to face the man in his rage.

"Which means!" the marquis thundered, "That we shall make his defeat even more humiliating!"

Lyn looked up in surprise to see the marquis smiling at her, "Sir?"

"You heard me! We must take this battle to him and slap him across the face with it!" He seemed to deflate some, "However, I am not of many soldiers to spare to you. So I apologize for the little help I shall be able to give you."

The marquis turned to Rath, "Rath, no, Rath of the proud Kutolah tribe."

Rath stared up at the marquis in silent amazement. To his knowledge, the marquis had hated all Sacaens for years.

"Rath of the Kutolah tribe, I must request this of you. Join Lady Lyndis, and vanquish Lundgren. I know I do not deserve this favor from you, but please, Rath. I beg of you to join them."

Rath nodded, and the marquis grinned in relief, "Good, then here, to help fund your journey, I present to you 10,000 gold. I know that it isn't much, but it is all I can spare what with the repairs I must make to Araphen."

Rath accepted the money and moved to stand behind Lyn, who bowed to the marquis, "Thank you, sir. I truly appreciate your blessing and assistance."

To her surprise, the marquis forced her out of her bow, "Do not bow to me, Lady Lyndis of Caelin. Soon, I am sure the two of us will be of equal standing. So don't get in the habit of something you'll be doing little of in the future."

Lyn smiled and turned around to gather her group, who happily greeted her and followed her out the throne room.

"Rath!" the marquis called out, causing the nomad to pause and turn to him, the others watching curiously. "Rath, I know that I have much to atone for, but…should you ever need a safe haven from anything, know that Araphen will welcome and defend you."

Rath nodded once, then turned around and joined the others in their leaving of the castle.

The marquis smiled fondly at the retreating Lyndis, then rummaged through his robe for his most prized possession. He smiled even more fondly at the small painting of Madelyn, then closed his eyes, 'Madelyn, perhaps if I had confessed my love earlier, that would have been our child. No matter, I know you would not have my hating of a people that have truly done me no wrong. So from today and until my death, for you Madelyn, I shall make this town a haven to all peoples. Only…for you, Madelyn.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Mark," Lyn called out to the tactician, taking his attention away from training Erk in mastering a ball of lightning. "Bool told us that Lundgren is poisoning my grandfather. We must hurry on."

Mark nodded, "Of course Lyn, I know that, but we can't rush the horses too much; they'll get exhausted and we'll waste too much time."

"Besides," Kent interjected, coming up to Lyn's side, "The closer we come to Caelin, the more determined Lundgren will be to stop us."

Bool pulled up on his own horse, "Lady Lyndis, you should know that none of the soldiers of Caelin would dare to take arms against you if they knew who you truly were! As I said earlier, Lundgren has told us that you killed the granddaughter! And we believed him. If we can just persuade the others, then we shouldn't have to deal with too many casualties."

Lyn nodded, already noticing Mark beginning to implement the strategy into his plans. "Thank you everyone. We shall make it through this, and when we've beaten Lundgren, I promise to make it up to each and every one of you."

Mark sighed and shook his head good-humoredly at Lyn's generosity. 'Watch out Lundgren, we're getting closer, and I plan to take back every pawn, rook, bishop and knight you've stolen. Then, I'll have you beaten by the same girl you sought to eliminate. Just you wait Lundgren, Just you wait!'

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Whew! I hope that's everything I wanted in this! Hope ya'll like it. Please do tell if you see something I missed.


	8. Siblings Abroad

Alright! That's it! No more procrastinating! I'm writing this chapter, KOTOR 2 and FEP like it or not!

Translation: Sorry for not updating in however long I haven't updated in; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and FireEmblemPlanet (An RP'ing site) kept me hooked to my television/computer like a drooling monkey. Without the drool of course.

Side note: I've discovered the most amazing thing on Apparently, the little double-arrows symbol to the right of a story's title and left of the reviews button takes you to the latest chapter of said story. For years, I did not know that. Huh…

IMPORTANT INFO: I'm currently in thought of changing the pairings to RathxLyn and KentxFiora. For plot reasons. I can work around this, as the whole plot reason isn't until the 3 portion of my trilogy, but I'd still like some opinions. But only if'n you have an actual review. I don't want votes, just personal opinions of what ya'll think as well as an actual review. Danke.

To the Reviewers!

Knives91: Thank you, I hope to sate your hunger eventually as this is just the first story of my Fire Emblem trilogy idea.

SandyCeasar: At first, I scoffed at your review. Scoffed, I say! Then, seeing as even if I didn't believe you, I should at least do a kill count to see how close I was to being wrong, I realized that you were right. Curses! I've been forced to reveal what was going to be a subtle manipulation throughout the story! (Don't mind my ramblings; I actually like having the opportunity to reveal my plan.) Yes, Mark appears to be a GaryStu, I am familiar with such terms, and so will the OC I mentioned in the first chapter's pairings list that appears in this chapter. They will both be almost godly, and for a very good PLOT reason. I admit this. But! This is where my master plan comes in. As I played the game, over and over and OVER, I couldn't help but ask myself, "Hey, wouldn't it be great if I had some MarySue/GaryStu type units?" Then I laughed at that part of my mind's pathetic attempt at thinking and came up with a solution. I'd just put in 2 GaryStu's, only in the combat category seeing as neither of my boys are bishies (Stupid pretty long-haired pretty boys! I'm looking at you, Pent!) Then, the second part of my master plan comes through. I **use** my two OC's like Action Replays and make them train the rest of the army into an almost unstoppable battalion of rampaging juggernauts and precision-deadly magic users. So, in response to your review…Yes, Mark is, combat-wise, a GaryStu. So is the OC in this chapter. And, eventually, so will every character I can force/persuade/buy into this army! Mwahahahahaha! Ahem, cough, cough Moving on, as of now, it's only Erk who'll be the first deadly awesome magic dude. And I think I have an idea for helping Serra out, stupid healers just stand there and take an axe to the head, but Lucius will be next, in the magic line, and the OC in this chapter is the weapons guy who will be teaching Kent and Sain to fight like General units on horses (Chains!), maybe like Great Knights from FE8, and Lyn how to tear up the units in a flurry of shiny goodness and fleshies being ripped apart. And the best part is, I can defend this action! Hurrah! You see, Servant of God, in his Hammer of Terrascars fic (Read it! I command you all!) proved how much better at stratagems and caring about looking things up for the sake of his story he is. He's extremely good at thinking up ways to go around the fact that in some chapters, it's literally your 12, or however many you could bring, against about 60 enemies, without having to actually 'fight' them. And his fight scenes are amazing! Me, I'm lazy, so that means I'm not looking up too many things, like destriers or candle marks. And I agree with his belief that, before Hector/Eliwood mode, all you're fighting are skirmishes. Wimpy bandits for about 4 chapters, then you basically rape Caelin of all the knights and soldiers you could have used to have some type of feasible defense against Laus when they invaded! I don't like that, so I decided to take some knights back and, you know, end battles kinda quickly, or before they can begin!(Chapters 2 and 4) Not to copy Servant of God, which I fear is something I may fall prey to, but I'll be actually using 'tactics' tactics around the Hector/Eliwood chapters. But, back to the actual response, never fear! There won't be just 2 OC's that are battle demons, no; I'll have the entire game's army and more! More I tell you! MORE!!! Mwahahahahaha! Besides, your characters being gods is pretty much how the game works anyway.

Yay! I responded! I just hope SandyCeasar's eyes don't strain too much like mine did trying to read all that. Warning! This chapter feels vague and not detailed enough. Well, whatever, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 8: Siblings Abroad

"Excellent! That's amazing work there, Erk!" Mark crowed happily as Erk formed a fireball in his palm, then managed to extend it into a whip.

Erk cracked the whip to their side a few times for practice, managing to incinerate a few plants on the ground, before he turned back to Mark. "This is…unbelievable. Even a week ago I wouldn't have believed this possible, but now you've taught me such things in just a few days!"

Mark chuckled, "Well now, Erk, it's not just my teaching that's helping you learn so fast. You have a natural affinity for Anima magic, as well as an amazing ability to learn quickly. And besides, I've really missed having a magic-user that uses magic like me to talk with."

"Hm?" Erk raised an eyebrow in questioning, "What do you mean by that, Mark? Did you used to travel with others that practiced magic like this?"

"Yes, Mark," Lyn agreed from her position riding next to Kent slightly ahead of them, "You did mention that you used to travel in a group before I found you, but you never talk about them. What was it like before you joined me?"

Mark remained silent for a moment, staring blankly up at the clear sky as though lost in thought, before he shook his head and answered Lyn's question. "I suppose I can tell you all about now; it's not like I can't trust any of you…"

Whatever else Mark was about to say was cut off by the dark-garbed body flying past them that crashed into the ground before them with a bloody thump. Kent immediately moved in front of Lyn to defend her from any future assaults while Sain quickly checked the body.

"Hm…Well, whoever he was, Mark, this guy's dead now." Sain reported.

"Alright everyone, ready your weapons and follow me! That body came from the East, so that's where we'll probably find whatever caused this." Mark ordered as he motioned for Konigin to continue along the Eastern trail, passing a nearby inn along the way.

A few minutes in, they came upon an unordinary sight; a white-robed figure with long blonde hair was kneeling before a man garbed similarly to the body from before. Coming closer, Mark was able to tell that it was a member of the Elimine clergy, probably praying for the obviously dead man before them. He noticed that the man seemed dead from a manner of burning and was about to question the clergy-member when Sain made his move.

"Oh! My heart! That I would be allowed to feast my eyes upon such a wondrous creature such as you!" Sain practically leapt from his horse at the blond, grabbing the clergy-member's hands in his own as he belted out more flirtatious words. "O majestic angel from above! Please, grant me your name so that I may be truly happy!"

The blond seemed speechless for a moment, before managing a reply, "…You should know now, sir, that I am not a woman. I am male…"

"O please, my beautiful maiden! Grant me your name so that-" Sain paused, his face and mind freezing as the blonde's words sunk in. "…You're…a…MAN?!"

With a yelp Sain leapt from the blonde, moving to hug Kent's side as he wept over-dramatically, "O by the Gods, Kent! I just…I flirted with…O Gods!"

Kent sighed as he awkwardly patted Sain on the back, "…There, there, Sain. It was an honest mistake. Though if you'd just stop trying to flirt with every pretty face you see, you'd-Sain! Please stop sobbing on my leg!"

Mark sighed and tuned the two out, instead getting off Konigin and approaching the baffled clergyman. "Sorry about Sain, he does things like that. So tell me, monk, what exactly were you doing in front of the man you just killed?"

The blonde's expression turned sorrowful, "My name is Lucius, a monk of the Church of Saint Elimine, and while I normally do not condone such violence, I had to defend myself and the young boy I was helping. I was separated from the boy and the other man helping us by this rogue here, so I must get to helping them, if you'll excuse me."

Lucius turned to leave to the East when Mark's voice called out to him, "Hold, Lucius. You say that a young boy is being pursued? What do you think of that, Lyn?"

Lyn hummed to herself in thought before she replied, "I could never leave a child in danger...but Bool said that the poison has been administered for a long time…Kent, how far away from Caelin are we again?"

Kent pushed the sobbing Sain off his leg and composed himself, "Hm, we would be in the Kathelet area, so we are about due North of Caelin by 10 days of riding."

"10 days…" Lyn frowned to herself, "…But at the same time, I refuse to leave a child in danger! Come, everyone! We ride to the aid of that child!"

As everyone prepared their weapons and defenses, Mark turned back to Lucius, "Alright then, Lucius. You've gotten yourself a set of backup in your quest to aid this child. Lead on."

Lucius nodded and motioned to the East, "That's where the child and the other man assisting us were chased to by the other pursuers. They shouldn't have gotten too far ahead of us."

XXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a few minutes of riding to the East, the tedium displaced by a random dark-garbed body flying past them every few moments, the group finally reached the child and the other man. However, instead of the large number of dastards to defeat to rescue the child, they were met with a young teal-haired boy with a long yellow scarf standing behind a crouching black-haired man with an insane amount of weapons on his person who was currently pressing a dagger to the throat of a dark-robed bearded man.

"…so c'mon ya little brain-dead idiot! Tell me why y'all were messin' with this kid or I'll carve out your eyes!"

The bearded man refused to reply, something that appeared to incense the black-haired man even further, "Fine then! Just die if'n you're gonna be this stupid!"

The teal-haired boy covered his eyes as the black-haired man shoved the dagger between the bearded man's eyes, effectively killing him. The black-haired man sighed in disgust before he noticed Lucius and raised his hand in greeting, "Yo! Monk-guy, what took ya? I already dealt with all of these idiots. You sure took your sw-"

The man paused as he glanced at Mark, his eyes widening with surprise, then glee. Then he did what no one there expected him to do, not even Mark. 

"Toumoku!" the black-haired man cried out as he leapt at Mark with his arms spread wide. Before Mark could react, he was trapped in a tight hug by the other man.

"Hoo, damn! It's been far too long Toumoku! Ha! And to think that I'd find you here in a place like this, doing something like this…Hoo!" The black-haired man grinned cheekily at Mark. "So? C'mon Toumoku, introduce me to your soldiers! We're buddies and brothers, ain't we?"

Mark snorted, then grinned back at the black-haired man, "Yeah, I suppose we are like brothers, and we did pledge to be pals for life…Anyway, everyone, this is my good friend Mashin. He and I traveled together before I joined up with Lyn, back before I changed my name to Mark."

Mashin caught the hint and waved at the others, "Howdy all! Like Mark here said, I'm Mashin. I trust ya'll have been takin' good care of my big brother Mark here?"

Lyn nodded, though she looked confused for a moment, "Yes, and I truly owe Mark a great debt of gratitude, but…didn't you just call him…Toumoku? Or something like that?"

Mashin grinned at her not missing a beat, although a subtle edge crept into his voice, "Heh, ya see back when Mark and I traveled together with six others, our little group needed a leader. We all agreed to call that leader Toumoku, and we pretty much all chose Mark here to be the one. After awhile, we all just started remembering his name as Toumoku. Ya understand?"

"I see," Lyn nodded again, then turned to Mark, "Now Mark, you said that you were going to tell us your past. How about no-"

"Wait!" Everyone turned around to stare at the teal-haired young boy from earlier, "Please, I know that none of you have any obligation to me, but more of those men have my sister!"

Mashin smacked his head in confusion, "Shit! I almost forgot! Hey, Mark, this here is Nils; he's a real special kid if'n the hair didn't give it away already. He's a bard that can revitalize ya real quick and he can sense incoming danger. Those morons from earlier were after him so me and that monk there decided to help the kid out. While he and I were running, Nils told me about how they've also got his older sister held captive."

Mark nodded and turned back to Lyn, "Well, Lyn? Do we rescue Nil's older sister, or do we go on our way? It's up to you."

"Like there would be any other choice; we will rescue his sister!" Lyn retorted fiercely, before she walked over to Nils. "Nils? I am Lyn, and my friends and I are going to help you rescue your sister. Do you know which way they went?"

Nils nodded, "Yes! They went down South and over the bridge that crosses the river near here. They said something about holding us captive at a fortress nearby here! Please, I beg of you to help my sister!"

"Of course Nils," Lyn assured him, then turned around to re-mount her horse. After motioning the others that they would be traveling south, she turned back to Nils, "Nils, do you have a horse to ride?"

Nils shook his head in the negative, and was about to say something when Mashin picked him up and set him on Mark's lap. Konigin snorted slightly at the added weight and Mark shot Mashin a look, "What are you doing?"

Mashin's eyes hardened and he leaned closer to Mark to whisper his response, "Listen Toumoku, keep an eye on that boy. There's something about him, something that reminds me of **back then**."

Mark's eyes widened for a split second before they returned to normal, "…Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure it's the same?"

Mashin nodded curtly, then broke out in a carefree chuckle, "Well, alright now! Let's go rescue us one blue-haired sister of little Nils here!"

With that, they immediately spurred their horses into gallops and began riding south. A few minutes later, as they were about to reach the bridge, Lyn suddenly was struck with a thought and turned to yell at Mark, "Mark! What about Mashin? He doesn't have a hor-"

She stopped yelling as she noticed Mashin calmly leaping and running right next to Konigin, not even sweating or showing any signs of tiredness. Lyn gaped for a few more moments before Kent's voice snapped her out of it.

"Milady Lyndis! I believe we've found the girl! A knight and some soldiers bearing the Caelin crest have formed in a circle around her and are defending her from more of the dark-robed pursuers from before. Amongst them is what seems to be a red-haired noble. Your orders?"

"Lyn," Mark approached closer on Konigin, "To aid those Caelin soldiers now would most certainly prove to them that our two forces are not enemies."

Lyn nodded, "Of course. Everyone, prepare yourselves. On Mark's signal, we will rush to the aid of those knights and Nils' sister."

XXXXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Grah!" Yogi grunted as he thrust his lance into the belly of yet another Black Fang. "Bah, accursed rats, the whole lot of you! I don't know what you curs were planning to do with this young lady, but Yogi of Caelin shall not stand for it! Right?"

"Yeah! That's right sir!" another soldier of Caelin replied, pulling his lance out of the corpse in front of him to block a sword strike directed at one of his comrades.

"Sir Yogi!" a second soldier spoke up, "Our morale is high, sir, but their numbers are many! We may not survive this!"

"So be it!" Yogi roared, swinging his lance in an arc in front of him to throw away three more Black Fang. "Then we shall die proud and noble, defending a maiden in the honor of our Lord Hausen!"

"Sir!" all of his soldiers replied, pulling together into an even tighter defensive circle around the teal-haired girl. The red-haired noble that had momentarily joined them nodded as well, swiftly piercing the armor of a nearby Black Fang before joining them in the circle.

Suddenly, screams started to come from behind the numerous Black Fang forces. Before their very eyes, the large sea of Black Fang covering the North dispersed, revealing two cavaliers charging through the ranks and cutting down any Black Fang they passed. Behind them was a large red-haired axe-user that was accompanied by a brown-haired heavy-sword user, who were both guarding the cavaliers' rears. From the East, the Black Fang forces erupted in howls of agony as large fireballs and strange whips of fire pummeled the melee forces and bursts of light reduced the enemy shamans to smoldering robes. Arrows pelted the enemies from the West, and one of the soldiers made out a Pegasus Knight dashing in and out of the enemy ranks, stabbing at various Black Fang with a lance.

"…Hmph!" Yogi snorted, though the pleased grin he had after recognizing the two cavaliers didn't fade from his face, "It looks like our back-up has arrived. Alright boys! Up and at 'em! For the glory of Caelin!"

As the Caelin soldiers were about to attack, a disturbance from the South caused them to pause and take a quick look. Their eyes widened in shock as a familiar knight rushed through the Black Fang forces, knocking several down and killing many others. A lithe figure emerged from behind the knight and approached Yogi.

"Sir Yogi of my grandfather's Caelin," Lyn greeted him politely, "As you are knights of my grandfather, I, Lyndis of the Lorca tribe, would extend my assistance to you in this skirmish. Do you accept?"

"Hmph," Yogi responded, "Well, I suppose this settles the questions of whether or not Lundgren was lying to us. No immoral bandit leader would lend assistance to knights, especially those tasked with capturing her. Fine then; My Lady Lyndis, I, Yogi of Caelin, pledge my loyalty and service to you, as do my men. Let us deal with these scum and hurry back to Caelin."

He turned to face his men, "You hear me, boys?! We're serving our true Lady Lyndis now! Got it?!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

"Hmph, good. Now then," Yogi cracked his knuckles from inside his armor, "Let's clean house!"

"Yaaaaahoooooo!" An overjoyed voice cried out, causing all to stare up in the air at the person responsible.

Mashin grinned psychotically and pulled out two chained axes from his person. "Thanks Florina! I owe ya one!"

Florina nodded worriedly as she watched Mashin fall through the air. He had requested that she take him high into the air then let him jump off for a surprise attack. She had no idea what he was thinking, but his confidence refused to let her deny him.

Mashin cackled in the air again, then aimed and threw the two chained axes at two of the Black Fang. They connected with the backs of the two Fangs with a sick thunk, and Mashin pulled hard on the chains in his hands. The two bodies dragged along for a few moments before the axes came free, allowing Mashin to pull them back and start twirling them in the air. After they reached a fast speed, he began to throw them at random, laughing each time the axes cut through a Black Fang.

Soon though, Mashin began to approach the ground, and he pulled the axes back to him and re-attached them to his belt. The instant his feet touched the ground, he curled up into a ball and began to roll. He impacted on the ground with a dull thump and rolled into a nearby group of Black Fang. Upon reaching the middle of the group, he unfurled himself out of the ball and drew two thin swords out in a flash. The Black Fang surrounding him gasped, and then fell to the ground, all dead and spewing blood from their cut throats. (Ha! Now that is god-modding/Gary Stuing! Take that!)

Mashin grinned at them and dashed off in the direction of more Black Fang, leaving the Caelin soldiers, Yogi, Bool and Lyn gaping in shock.

"How-How the hell…" one soldier gasped.

"…did he do that?!" a second one finished.

"Bloody…demon…" the third managed.

"…Damn, we're gonna have to do a lot to outdo that…" Yogi muttered, turning absentmindedly to pierce a gaping Black Fang in the chest.

"I know, I mean, that's just not fair," Bool replied, similarly stabbing shocked Black Fangs with his lance.

"Well now," Lyn murmured, stabbing a Black Fang in the chest with her Mani Katti, "It certainly seems that Mark knows quite the interesting amount of people…"

XXXXXXXXXXXSCENEXXXXXXXXXXCHANGEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The fighting continued for a good while longer, until Serra of all people ended the fight by clobbering the Black Fang leader over the head with her heal staff. At that point, Erk and Matthew were seen inching away from her with nervous looks on their faces.

When the Black Fang leader, a blond man with a scruffy look about him, woke up, Lyn tried to interrogate him.

"Who are you? And why do you and your people hunt Nils and his sister?" She demanded.

The Black Fang leader scowled at her, before grinning bitterly, "Failure means death. Such is the law of the Fang." He snapped his teeth together, then fell to the ground seconds later.

"What?!" Lyn gasped, quickly checking the man's body for a pulse. Finding none, she called Mark and Matthew over to assist her. "I don't understand…He snapped his teeth at me and then fell over and died. What happened?"

Mark and Matthew kneeled down by the body and examined it before Mark looked back up at Lyn, "Guessing from the body's condition, I'd probably say it was some type of poison."

"Yep," Matthew solemnly agreed, holding up a small egg-shaped container between his thumb and forefinger. "And here's the canister that held the poison. I've gotta say that these guys weren't normal kidnappers. They were professionals."

"Hah!" They turned to look at Mashin, who had blood all over his body and weapons and was leering at the dead body before them, "All those idiots were professional at was dyin'! I mean, jus' look at their leader; knocked out by a **cleric** of all things and then he goes and kill 'imself! Pathetic!"

"And what's so pathetic about being beaten by **me**?!" Serra yelled from behind Mashin, leaping up to jump on his back and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Argh! Git offa me, ya pink-haired demon!"

"WHAT?! How dare you! I'll have you know that the enemy leader was probably smitten with me! That's how I beat him; with my charm and beauty!"

"Please! The charm of a rattlesnake and the beauty of a demoness!"

"How dare you?!"

Mark and Matthew chuckled while Lyn shook her head at the sight of a bloody Mashin arguing with Serra choking him from behind.

After laughing a bit, Mark turned to Nils, who was standing by his unconscious sister and the red-haired man from before. Mark noted Yogi and the Caelin knights greeting Kent and Sain warmly as he passed, as well as Erk and Lucius talking to each other and Dorcas and Glass smoking by the fire.

"Ah, Nils," Mark began kindly, "How is your sister? Any injuries I should have Serra check out?"

"What do you mean by that?! I can't believe you'd insult me by calling me a harpy! Don't you know I'm delicate?!" Serra's voice screamed across the campsite.

"Delicate?! Hah! That's a laugh! Yer about as delicate as a wyvern amongst pegasi!" Mashin's rougher voice screamed back.

"WHAT?!"

Nils paused for a moment, mentally wondering if he should ever let Serra anywhere near his sister, before he responded, "No Mark, I'm pretty sure that she's just tired from this whole ordeal. Again, I can't thank you enough for all that you've done."

"No problem," Mark waved him off, "I couldn't let you go off and try and do something like this on your own." '_Especially if what Mashin senses is true. If you really are what we think you are, then there's no way we're letting you out of our sight!'_

"Erm…" Nils' sister moaned, starting to wake up from her unconscious spell.

"Lyn!" Mark called out, "The sister is waking up!"

Lyn broke away from her conversation with Kent and Florina and approached Nils and his sister, leaving the Pegasus knight alone with the crimson cavalier. (Y'know how people always refer to Hector as the Pegasus Sisters' pimp man? Kent does have the same number of supports as Hector with the Pegasus Sisters, and both of Kent's have a more distinct romantic ending convo than Hector's. Just a thought.)

"She's waking up? Good, was she injured at all?" Lyn asked him.

"No, Nils says that she's just tired. There shouldn't be any injuries what with the competent job Yogi and the soldiers did defending her with this gentleman here." Mark answered, pointing towards the red-haired man.

"And you are?" Lyn asked him politely.

The red-haired man smiled gently and replied, "My name is Eliwood, son of the Marquis of Pherae. I came upon the young lady being accosted by the men we fought earlier at the same time as the knights, and we decided to team up to assist the young lady. Then you arrived and the kidnappers were defeated. Seeing as you now know my name, might I have yours?" (This paragraph sucks)

"I am Lyn of the Lorca tribe, and granddaughter of the Marquis of Caelin," Lyn replied, then informed him of the entire story.

"Hm," Eliwood mused in thought when she finished, "I see…well, I believe you."

"You do?"

"Yes," Eliwood nodded, "You have your grandfather's eyes, and I know that the people of Sacae do not lie."

"Thank you," Lyn beamed at Eliwood, "It's good to have you on our side in this matter."

"Lady Lyndis!" Nils called out to her, "Ninian is awake now!"

Lyn turned around to face Nils and greet Ninian, "Are you alright now?"

Ninian looked around confusedly at all of the people around her. Nils, sensing her distress, piped up, "Don't worry Ninian! These people helped me rescue you. They aren't going to hurt us."

Ninian appeared to relax, and returned Lyn's greeting, "Thank you for your concern, and your assistance. I'm feeling much better, now that both Nils and I are safe from harm. Thank you again, Miss Lyn."

"You shouldn't really thank me," Lyn told her, "seeing as it was Eliwood and Yogi and his men that rescued you first. We just came in late to finish off the enemy."

"Oh," Ninian turned to Eliwood and bowed in front of him, "Thank you, Lord Eliwood, for rescuing me and protecting me while I was unconscious."

"It was nothing," Eliwood replied, smiling gently at her before he turned to Lyn again, "Lyndis, I must be going now. I originally came here to meet with a friend of mine and it's getting late. Should you need any help, I shall be in the area for a few more days."

With that, Eliwood mounted his horse and rode off with a wave goodbye. After he had left their vision, Lyn turned back towards the two siblings.

"So what will you two do now?"

Ninian looked unsure as she responded, "My brother and I are traveling performers. My brother plays music and I dance-"

At this point, Sain looked up with an expression of pure joy and was about to approach them when Dorcas picked him up by the neck of shirt and dragged him away. Nearby, Glass gave Mark the thumbs up sign.

"-sacred dances that honor life. When I perform my holy dance, the blessings of the gods are bestowed upon my target. However, I injured my leg trying to flee from those men earlier, and so I cannot dance as of now."

"Miss Lyn," Nils asked, "I know that we owe you a great debt, but may we please travel along with you?"

"Of course," Mark replied instantly, shocking the others as he had remained silent for some time, "I would have it no other way."

He turned to Lyn, "Lyn, as your tactician, I must ask you to trust me on this matter. I cannot allow them to travel unaccompanied. They must join us, please."

Lyn stared at him in shock, before managing to nod, "Of course. I agree; I couldn't leave them defenseless and alone, especially with Ninian's hurt leg."

She turned to Nils and Ninian, "Of course you can travel with us. But I must warn you, we are being hunted by my dastardly granduncle. There will most likely be many after us, are you sure that you want to join us?"

Nils nodded and Ninian replied, "Yes, despite all that, we would be honored to join you. I hope that we may still find some way to prove useful to you in this journey."

Lyn smiled at them, "I'm sure you will; come with me and I'll introduce you to the others and get you a tent."

As they moved towards the campsite, Mark stayed behind and began counting down from 30.

'_5…4…3…2…1…'_

"Mark?"

Mark turned around and looked at Glass, who was standing behind him with a serious expression, "Yes, Glass?"

"I though that I should tell you; while we were riding, Matthew strayed off towards a small house in the Southeast. I followed him and noticed him reporting something to a blue-haired man that seemed like that red-haired guy."

"Did he have a beard?" Mark asked, his attention suddenly piqued.

"No; clean-shaven. He seemed about that red-haired guy's age."

"Ah," Mark grinned slightly, "The younger brother. Glass! Did Matthew notice you trailing him?"

"Yeah, he caught me and I tried to interrogate him. All I got out of him was that he wasn't betraying us. Can we trust him?"

"Yes, Glass, we can still trust Matthew. In fact, he may have helped us out quite a bit. Glass, go to Matthew and tell him that I **order** him to pick the pockets of all the dead bodies near the fortress, and that any and all money he finds is his and that all weapons are to be brought to the center of camp."

Glass nodded and walked off, leaving Mark to start counting to himself again.

'_...3…2…1…'_

"Toumoku," Mashin grinned from behind Mark, blowing into Mark's ear with a wicked grin.

Mark twitched and turned around, "Mashin…that was the sister…did you sense **it**?"

"Yes," Mashin nodded, "It's exactly the same as Nils. And I was right; it's the same as **back then**."

"I see…then maybe we should-"

"And what exactly are you two mumbling about?"

Mark's head flew up with tremendous speed to stare at Serra's face from atop Mashin's shoulder. He gaped, wide-eyed, at her for a few moments until she spoke again.

"Well? What's so interesting about those two? And what's all this 'back then' and 'it' stuff you're talking about? Something that Lyn should know about?" Serra asked with a sly expression on her face.

"…Serra," Mark started slowly, "You cannot repeat what you have heard here. At…All. Do you understand me?"

"Maybe," Serra drawled, "But then again, maybe some…incentives could help me keep quiet. Incentives like…a vassal."

"Oooh," Mashin sneered under his breath, "Incentives is a big word. Hard to believe that **you** know it."

"I heard that!" Serra snapped at him, glaring and pouting childishly at the side of his face, before she turned back to Mark, "Listen Mark; I'll keep quiet if you make Mashin here my vassal!"

"Done!" Mark agreed, pretending not to notice Mashin's betrayed expression. "However, Serra, I'd like to trust you with the secret of Mashin's and my past. Can we trust you?"

"Of course," Serra beamed, "I love secrets; and since you gave me my own vassal, I'll promise to keep it a secret no matter what!"

Mark grinned, "Good, now listen up, because I'm only telling you this once and it's the truth."

For the next few minutes, Serra listened with rapt attention to Mark as he told her his story. At first, all was quiet; then, as Mark finished, it was broken.

"WHAT?! How can you expect me to-"

Mashin covered her mouth with his hand, glaring at her in annoyance. She glared back until Mark spoke up again.

"Listen Serra, I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth. I'm begging you to believe me. If you need it, both Mashin and I can offer you proof if you want it."

Serra stared at them for a moment, then finally nodded gently. Mashin removed his hand and she pouted at them.

"…You've got proof? Then I suppose I'm willing to listen."

Mark nodded, "Good, then get back camp. And don't tell anybody anything. If you do…" He paused and glared coldly at her, "…then I'm afraid that you will have to be dealt with. Understand?"

Serra nodded and jumped off of Mashin's back, then scurried off back to camp. Mark and Mashin watched her, then turned back to each other.

"Heh," Mashin grinned, remembering back to when he and Mark had traveled together, "She reminds me of **her**, back before she changed on us."

"Yeah," Mark agreed, turning to stare up at the coming night sky, "Yeah, it's almost like **back then**."

Mashin joined Mark in his sky-gazing solemnly, "Hey, who knows; maybe this time, we'll get the happy ending, huh?"

"Yeah," Mark intoned, "Just maybe."

DONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONEODNEDONEDON

Yo…that's Ch. 8 done. Next chapter is probably a filler chapter since I brought Yogi in early. Tell me if'n I missed anything.

**AND YES, I KNOW THAT MARK AND MASHIN ARE GARY-STU-LIKE. THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THAT WAY. IT IS ON PURPOSE. DON'T SEND IN REVIEWS WHINING ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I KNOW AND WON'T CHANGE IT AS IT IS A PLOT DEVICE.**


End file.
